Aire controls the recirculation of murine Foxp3⁺ regulatory T-cells back to the thymus.

ABSTRACT: In the thymus, medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC) determine the fate of newly selected CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ single positive (SP) thymocytes. For example, mTEC expression of Aire controls intrathymic self-antigen availability for negative selection. Interestingly, alterations in both Foxp3⁺ Regulatory T-cells (T-Reg) and conventional SP thymocytes in Aire^-/- mice suggest additional, yet poorly understood, roles for Aire during intrathymic T-cell development. To examine this, we analysed thymocytes from Aire^-/- mice using Rag2GFP and Foxp3 expression, and a recently described CD69/MHCI subset definition of post-selection CD4⁺ conventional thymocytes. We show that while Aire is dispensable for de novo generation of conventional

SUBMITTER: Cowan JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6001551 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature