Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF, 2300K) PPT slides of all figures Supplemental Material Index Alert me when this article is cited Citation Map Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new content in the JEM Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McCaughtry, T. M. Articles by Hogquist, K. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by McCaughtry, T. M. Articles by Hogquist, K. A. Pubmed/NCBI databases Gene GEO Profiles HomoloGene UniGene Substance via MeSH Related Collections Related Article Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Center for Immunology, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455

CORRESPONDENCE Kristin A. Hogquist: hogqu001{at}umn.edu

Conventional ß T cell precursors undergo positive selection in the thymic cortex. When this is successful, they migrate to the medulla and are exposed to tissue-specific antigens (TSA) for purposes of central tolerance, and they undergo maturation to become functionally responsive T cells. It is commonly understood that thymocytes spend up to 2 wk in the medulla undergoing these final maturation steps before emigrating to peripheral lymphoid tissues. In addition, emigration is thought to occur via a stochastic mechanism whereby some progenitors leave early and others leave late—a so-called "lucky dip" process. However, recent research has revealed that medullary thymocytes are a heterogeneous mix of naive ß T cell precursors, memory T cells, natural killer T cells, and regulatory T cells. Given this, we revisited the question of how long it takes naive ß T cell precursors to emigrate. We combined the following three approaches to study this question: BrdU labeling, intrathymic injection of a cellular tag, and RAG2p-GFP reporter mice. We established that, on average, naive ß T cell precursors emigrate only 4–5 d after becoming single-positive (SP) thymocytes. Furthermore, emigration occurs via a strict "conveyor belt" mechanism, where the oldest thymocytes leave first.

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Reddit

Technorati

Twitter

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Stephen, T. L., Tikhonova, A., Riberdy, J. M., Laufer, T. M. (2009). The Activation Threshold of CD4+ T Cells Is Defined by TCR/Peptide-MHC Class II Interactions in the Thymic Medulla. J. Immunol. 183: 5554-5562 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Drennan, M. B., Franki, A.-S., Dewint, P., Van Beneden, K., Seeuws, S., van de Pavert, S. A., Reilly, E. C., Verbruggen, G., Lane, T. E., Mebius, R. E., Deforce, D., Elewaut, D. (2009). Cutting Edge: The Chemokine Receptor CXCR3 Retains Invariant NK T Cells in the Thymus. J. Immunol. 183: 2213-2216 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wirnsberger, G., Mair, F., Klein, L. (2009). Regulatory T cell differentiation of thymocytes does not require a dedicated antigen-presenting cell but is under T cell-intrinsic developmental control. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 10278-10283 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gossens, K., Naus, S., Corbel, S. Y., Lin, S., Rossi, F. M.V., Kast, J., Ziltener, H. J. (2009). Thymic progenitor homing and lymphocyte homeostasis are linked via S1P-controlled expression of thymic P-selectin/CCL25. JEM 206: 761-778 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Makaroff, L. E., Hendricks, D. W., Niec, R. E., Fink, P. J. (2009). Postthymic maturation influences the CD8 T cell response to antigen. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 4799-4804 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Shakib, S., Desanti, G. E., Jenkinson, W. E., Parnell, S. M., Jenkinson, E. J., Anderson, G. (2009). Checkpoints in the Development of Thymic Cortical Epithelial Cells. J. Immunol. 182: 130-137 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Prlic, M., Bevan, M. J. (2008). Exploring regulatory mechanisms of CD8+ T cell contraction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 16689-16694 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Houston, E. G. Jr., Nechanitzky, R., Fink, P. J. (2008). Cutting Edge: Contact with Secondary Lymphoid Organs Drives Postthymic T Cell Maturation. J. Immunol. 181: 5213-5217 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Morley, S. C., Weber, K. S., Kao, H., Allen, P. M. (2008). Protein Kinase C-{theta} Is Required for Efficient Positive Selection. J. Immunol. 181: 4696-4708 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Weinreich, M. A., Hogquist, K. A. (2008). Thymic Emigration: When and How T Cells Leave Home. J. Immunol. 181: 2265-2270 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kirberg, J., Bosco, N., Deloulme, J.-C., Ceredig, R., Agenes, F. (2008). Peripheral T Lymphocytes Recirculating Back into the Thymus Can Mediate Thymocyte Positive Selection. J. Immunol. 181: 1207-1214 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Dzhagalov, I., Dunkle, A., He, Y.-W. (2008). The Anti-Apoptotic Bcl-2 Family Member Mcl-1 Promotes T Lymphocyte Survival at Multiple Stages. J. Immunol. 181: 521-528 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kelly, R. M., Highfill, S. L., Panoskaltsis-Mortari, A., Taylor, P. A., Boyd, R. L., Hollander, G. A., Blazar, B. R. (2008). Keratinocyte growth factor and androgen blockade work in concert to protect against conditioning regimen-induced thymic epithelial damage and enhance T-cell reconstitution after murine bone marrow transplantation. Blood 111: 5734-5744 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search

TABLE OF CONTENTS