The stream of precursors that colonizes the thymus proceeds selectively through the early T lineage precursor stage of T cell development.

ABSTRACT: T cell development in the thymus depends on continuous colonization by hematopoietic precursors. Several distinct T cell precursors have been identified, but whether one or several independent precursor cell types maintain thymopoiesis is unclear. We have used thymus transplantation and an inducible lineage-tracing system to identify the intrathymic precursor cells among previously described thymus-homing progenitors that give rise to the T cell lineage in the thymus. Extrathymic precursors were not investigated in these studies. Both approaches show that the stream of T cell lineage precursor cells, when entering the thymus, selectively passes through the early T lineage precursor (ETP) stage. Immigrating precursor cells do not exhibit characteristics of double-negative (DN) 1c, DN1d, or

SUBMITTER: Benz C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2373849 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature