The epithelial mucin, MUC1, is expressed on resting T lymphocytes and can function as a negative regulator of T cell activation.

Abstract MUC1 is a mucinous glycoprotein which is normally expressed on the surface of a variety of epithelia and aberrantly overexpressed on some human tumors. In this report, we demonstrate that the epithelial mucin, MUC1, is expressed on resting human peripheral blood T cells and two leukemia T cell lines, Jurkat and Hut 78. Crosslinking of MUC1 on peripheral blood T cells by plate-bound anti-MUC1 (DF3-P) antibody inhibits cell proliferation, IL-2 and GM-CSF production, and up-regulation of the IL-2 receptor upon anti-CD3 stimulation. Induction of IL-2 production by Jurkat and HUT 78 is also suppressed and cannot be reversed by the addition of anti-CD28 mAb. These findings suggest that MUC1 can be a potent negative regulator for T cell activation at the resting stage.