Direct BMP2/4 signaling through BMP receptor IA regulates fetal thymocyte progenitor homeostasis and differentiation to CD4+CD8+ double-positive cell.

ABSTRACT: BMP2/4 signaling is required for embryogenesis and involved in thymus morphogenesis and T-lineage differentiation. In vitro experiments have shown that treatment of thymus explants with exogenous BMP4 negatively regulated differentiation of early thymocyte progenitors and the transition from CD4-CD8- (DN) to CD4+CD8+ (DP). Here we show that in vivo BMP2/4 signaling is required for fetal thymocyte progenitor homeostasis and expansion, but negatively regulates differentiation from DN to DP cell. Unexpectedly, conditional deletion of BMPRIA from fetal thymocytes (using the Cre-loxP system and directing excision to hematopoietic lineage cells with the Vav promoter) demonstrated that physiological levels of BMP2/4 signaling directly to thymocytes through BMPRIA are required for normal different

SUBMITTER: Hager-Theodorides AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3906248 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature