Epithelial LTβR signaling controls the population size of the progenitors of medullary thymic epithelial cells in neonatal mice.

ABSTRACT: The establishment of T cell central tolerance critically relies on the development and maintenance of the medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). Disrupted signaling of lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTβR) results in dramatically reduced mTEC population. However, whether LTβR directly or indirectly control mTECs remains undetermined; how LTβR controls this process also remain unclear. In this study, by utilizing K14-Cre × Ltbr^fl/fl conditional knockout (cKO) mice, we show that epithelial intrinsic LTβR was essential for the mTEC development postnatally. Mechanistically, LTβR did not directly impact the proliferation or survival of mTECs; the maturation of mTECs from MHC-II^lo to MHC-II^hi stage was also unaltered in the absence of LTβR; interestingly, the numb

SUBMITTER: Wu W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5349570 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature