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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Co-Culture and Transduction of Murine Thymocytes on Delta-Like 4-Expressing Stromal Cells to Study Oncogenes in T-Cell Leukemia
Published on: June 9, 2023
Retroviral transduction in fetal thymic organ culture
Bronwyn M Owens1, Robert G Hawley, Lisa M Spain
1Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
T-cell development requires cytokines and intimate contact with stromal cells provided exclusively by the thymus. Consequently, an in vitro model of thymocyte differentiation, fetal thymic organ culture (FTOC), has been developed. FTOC recapitulates the normal development of T-cells derived from both mouse and human progenitor populations, providing a more rapid means to study T-cell development compared with alternative in vivo approaches. Furthermore, FTOC is easily amenable to genetic manipulation using retroviral gene transfer. In this chapter, we outline the basic FTOC technique and describe several applications, including retroviral transduction of mouse thymocyte subsets and human CD34+ stem/progenitor cells.
T-cell development requires cytokines and intimate contact with stromal cells provided exclusively by the thymus. Consequently, an in vitro model of thymocyte differentiation, fetal thymic organ culture (FTOC), has been developed. FTOC recapitulates the normal development of T-cells derived from both mouse and human progenitor populations, providing a more rapid means to study T-cell development compared with alternative in vivo approaches. Furthermore, FTOC is easily amenable to genetic manipulation using retroviral gene transfer. In this chapter, we outline the basic FTOC technique and describe several applications, including retroviral transduction of mouse thymocyte subsets and human CD34+ stem/progenitor cells.
