A Role for CD147 in Thymic Development

We have previously identified a mAb that binds to a molecule expressed preferentially on the surface of cycling thymocytes. In this study the molecule recognized by this mAb has been identified in the mouse as CD147 (basigin) by expression cloning. We show that CD147 expression correlates with cycling of immature thymocytes even in the absence of TCRβ selection and that ligation of this molecule on immature fetal thymocytes inhibits their further development into mature T cells.