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Thymic stromal cell subsets for T cell development

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Abstract

The thymus provides a specialized microenvironment in which a variety of stromal cells of both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic origin regulate development and repertoire selection of T cells. Recent studies have been unraveling the inter- and intracellular signals and transcriptional networks for spatiotemporal regulation of development of thymic stromal cells, mainly thymic epithelial cells (TECs), and the molecular mechanisms of how different TEC subsets control T cell development and selection. TECs are classified into two functionally different subsets: cortical TECs (cTECs) and medullary TECs (mTECs). cTECs induce positive selection of diverse and functionally distinct T cells by virtue of unique antigen-processing systems, while mTECs are essential for establishing T cell tolerance via ectopic expression of peripheral tissue-restricted antigens and cooperation with dendritic cells. In addition to reviewing the role of the thymic stroma in conventional T cell development, we will discuss recently discovered novel functions of TECs in the development of unconventional T cells, such as natural killer T cells and γδT cells.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants to T.N. from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology in Japan (25111516, 25460606), National Center for Global Health and Medicine (24-112), Astellas Foundation, Inamori Foundation, Kanae Foundation, Naito Foundation, and Ichiro Kanehara Foundation.

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  1. Department of Immunology and Pathology, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Chiba, 272-8516, Japan

    Takeshi Nitta & Harumi Suzuki

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Nitta, T., Suzuki, H. Thymic stromal cell subsets for T cell development. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 73, 1021–1037 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-015-2107-8

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