RRC ID 45396
Author Sekai M, Hamazaki Y, Minato N.
Title Medullary thymic epithelial stem cells maintain a functional thymus to ensure lifelong central T cell tolerance.
Journal Immunity
Abstract Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) are crucial for central T cell self-tolerance. Although progenitors of mTECs have been demonstrated in thymic organogenesis, the mechanism for postnatal mTEC maintenance remains elusive. We demonstrate that implantation of embryonic TECs expressing claudin-3 and claudin-4 (Cld3,4) in a medulla-defective thymic microenvironment restores medulla formation and suppresses multiorgan autoimmunity throughout life. A minor SSEA-1(+) fraction within the embryonic Cld3,4(hi) TECs contained self-renewable clonogenic TECs, capable of preferentially generating mature mTECs in vivo. Adult SSEA-1(+)Cld3,4(hi) TECs retained mTEC reconstitution potential, although the activity decreased. The clonogenicity of TECs also declined rapidly after birth in wild-type mice, whereas it persisted in Rag2(?/?) adult mice with defective thymopoiesis. The results suggest that unipotent mTEC-restricted stem cells that develop in the embryo have the capacity to functionally reconstitute the thymic medulla long-term, thus ensuring lifelong central T cell self-tolerance.
Volume 41(5)
Pages 753-61
Published 2014-11-20
DOI 10.1016/j.immuni.2014.10.011
PII S1074-7613(14)00387-2
PMID 25464854
MeSH Animals Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / biosynthesis Cell Differentiation / immunology Cells, Cultured Claudin-3 / biosynthesis Claudin-4 / biosynthesis DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics Epithelial Cells / cytology Epithelial Cells / immunology Lewis X Antigen / biosynthesis Mice Mice, Knockout Organogenesis / immunology* Self Tolerance / immunology* Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigens / biosynthesis Stem Cells / cytology Stem Cells / immunology* T-Lymphocytes / immunology* Thymus Gland / cytology* Thymus Gland / immunology
IF 22.553
Times Cited 57
WOS Category IMMUNOLOGY
Altmetric score
オルトメトリクス指標項目
The most frequently cited source X(Twitter)
Total number of mentions 16
Altmetric score changes over past 6months 0.0
Resource
Human and Animal Cells STO(RCB0536)