Ikaros family members are important regulatory factors in lymphocyte development. Here we show that Ikaros may play an important role in CD4 versus CD8 lineage commitment decisions by demonstrating: (1) that it binds to regulatory elements in the endogenous CD8alpha locus in vivo using thymocyte chromatin immunoprecipitations, (2) that Ikaros suppresses position effect variegation of transgenes driven by CD8 regulatory elements, and (3) that mice with reduced levels of Ikaros and Aiolos show an apparent increase in CD4 populations with immature phenotype, i.e., cells that failed to activate the CD8alpha gene locus. We propose that Ikaros family members function as activators of the CD8alpha gene locus and that their associated activities are critical for appropriate chromatin remodeling transitions during thymocyte differentiation and lineage commitment.

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Antigenic encounter generates long-term immunity sustained by long-lived high affinity plasma cells resident in the bone marrow (BM). Here we show that the Ikaros family member, Aiolos, is specifically required for the generation of these plasma cells. Failure to generate high affinity plasma cells in the BM and to sustain serum antibody titers is apparent after both primary and secondary immunization of Aiolos − / − mice with a range of hapten concentrations. Chimera reconstitutions demonstrate that the BM plasma cell defect is B cell intrinsic. Lack of Aiolos does not alter expression of any of the previously described factors required for general plasma cell differentiation. No defect in somatic hypermutation, the generation of memory B cells, or short-lived high affinity plasma cells in the spleen was observed upon rechallenge. These studies support a model by which the high affinity plasma cell population in the BM undergoes a unique differentiation program that is dependent on Aiolos.