RANK links thymic regulatory T cells to fetal loss and gestational diabetes in pregnancy.

ABSTRACT: Successful pregnancies rely on adaptations within the mother¹, including marked changes within the immune system². It has long been known that the thymus, the central lymphoid organ, changes markedly during pregnancy³. However, the molecular basis and importance of this process remain largely obscure. Here we show that the osteoclast differentiation receptor RANK^4,5 couples female sex hormones to the rewiring of the thymus during pregnancy. Genetic deletion of Rank (also known as Tnfrsf11a) in thymic epithelial cells results in impaired thymic involution and blunted expansion of natural regulatory T (T_reg) cells in pregnant female mice. Sex hormones, in particular progesterone, drive the development of thymic T_reg cells thro

SUBMITTER: Paolino M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7116618 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature