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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Purification and Expansion of Mouse Invariant Natural Killer T Cells for in vitro and in vivo Studies
Published on: February 15, 2021
Long-term retention of mature NK1.1+ NKT cells in the thymus
Stuart P Berzins1, Finlay W McNab, Claerwen M Jones
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia. berzins@unimelb.edu.au
Abstract:
The NKT cell pool in the thymus contains immature (NK1.1(-)) and mature (NK1.1(+)) subsets that represent distinct linear stages of a linear developmental pathway. An unexplained paradox is why immature NK1.1(-) NKT cells are mainly exported to the periphery instead of the more mature and more abundant NK1.1(+) NKT cells. In this study we have determined that mature NK1.1(+) NKT cells are retained by the thymus to form an extremely long-lived resident population capable of rapid and prolonged production of IFN-gamma and IL-4. The retention of mature NKT cells provides an explanation for why the periphery is mainly seeded by immature NK1.1(-) cells despite mature NK1.1(+) NKT cells being more abundant in the thymus. This is the first study to identify a mature T cell subset retained within the thymus and is additional evidence of the distinct developmental pathways of mainstream T cells and NKT cells.
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