Characterization of facteur thymique sérique (FTS) in the thymus. I. Fixation of anti-FTS antibodies on thymic reticulo-epithelial cells.

Facteur thymique sérique (FTS) is a circulating nonapeptide inducing T cell differentiation. Its strict thymus dependency, already shown by its disappearance after thymectomy and its presence in thymus extracts, was confirmed using indirect immunofluorescence or immunoperoxidase by the binding to reticulo-epithelial cells of an antibody produced against synthetic FTS. The specificity of the reaction was demonstrated by the inhibition of binding observed after preincubating the anti-FTS antibody with synthetic FTS.