Identification of Plet-1 as a specific marker of early thymic epithelial progenitor cells.

ABSTRACT: The thymus is essential for a functional immune system, because the thymic stroma uniquely supports T lymphocyte development. We have previously identified the epithelial progenitor population from which the thymus arises and demonstrated its ability to generate an organized functional thymus upon transplantation. These thymic epithelial progenitor cells (TEPC) are defined by surface determinants recognized by the mAbs MTS20 and MTS24, which were also recently shown to identify keratinocyte progenitor cells in the skin. However, the biochemical nature of the MTS20 and MTS24 determinants has remained unknown. Here we show, via expression profiling of fetal mouse TEPC and their differentiated progeny and subsequent analyses, that both MTS20 and MTS24 specifically bind an orphan protein of un

SUBMITTER: Depreter MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2242700 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature