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Related Experiment Videos

The thymus and T-cell commitment: the right niche for Notch?

Eric J Jenkinson1, William E Jenkinson, Simona W Rossi

  • 1MRC Centre for Immune Regulation, Division of Immunity and Infection, Institute for Biomedical Research, Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. e.j.jenkinson@bham.ac.uk

Nature Reviews. Immunology
|June 27, 2006
PubMed
Summary

The thymus is colonized by progenitors already committed to T-cell development, not versatile ones. Notch signaling in the thymus reveals, rather than determines, this T-cell lineage commitment.

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Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • The thymus is traditionally thought to receive progenitor cells capable of developing into both T cells and B cells.
  • Intrathymic Notch signaling is believed to dictate T cell lineage commitment, excluding B cell development within the thymus.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the lineage commitment status of progenitor cells colonizing the fetal thymus.
  • To re-evaluate the role of Notch signaling in T cell versus B cell lineage determination during fetal thymic development.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of progenitor cell populations in the fetal thymus.
  • Investigation of Notch signaling pathways in thymic microenvironments.

Main Results:

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  • Evidence suggests fetal thymus colonization by progenitors already committed to the T cell lineage.
  • The T cell versus B cell lineage choice appears to be made prior to thymus entry.

Conclusions:

  • The established model of intrathymic T cell lineage commitment may not apply to fetal development.
  • Notch signaling in the thymus likely supports and reveals pre-existing T cell lineage commitment rather than mediating the choice itself.