Notch signaling in lymphocyte development

Cytokine and antigen receptor signals play well-characterized roles in promoting the survival and maturation of T and B lymphocyte progenitors through sequential developmental stages. Emerging studies suggest equally important roles for more ancient signaling pathways that evolved prior to the adaptive immune system in jawed vertebrates. In particular, there are at least two essential functions for the highly conserved Notch signaling pathway in lymphocyte development. First, Notch signals are essential for the development of T cell progenitors in the thymus and intestinal epithelium. Second, Notch signals are required to suppress B cell development in the thymus. This review will focus on focus on recent advances in our understanding of how Notch signaling regulates this developmental switch, as well as how Notch might regulate subsequent survival and cell fate decisions in developing T cells.