Cross-reactivity of antibodies on thymic epithelial cells from humans and marmosets by flow-cytometry

Callithrix jacchus, the common marmoset, is particularly suitable for immun ological studies in nice and in vitro since many antibodies directed agains t epitopes of human cells do also react with their analogues from this non- human primate. We studied the reactivity of antibodies against human epitop es on primary cultures of thymic epithelial cells from marmosets and humans by Bow-cytometry after different culture periods, The antibodies against i ntegrins, including CD61, reacted with thymic epithelial cells from both hu mans and marmosets, as did anti-CD44 and anti-CD106. Antibodies specific fo r thymic epithelial cells (TE-3, TE-4, TE-8, TE-15, TE-16, TE-19) also boun d to cells from marmosets but expression of all epitopes was not observed i n all cultures studied. The expression of CD51, CD54, CD58 and CD106 on hum an cells declined after 4 weeks of culture. Our findings indicate that. mar mosets are a valuable model for immunological studies of effects of xenobio tics on the thymic epithelium.