Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Characterization of Thymic Settling Progenitors in the Mouse Embryo Using In Vivo and In Vitro Assays
Published on: June 9, 2015
From the bone marrow to the thymus: the road map of early stages of T-cell development
1Hematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratory, Lund Research Center for Stem Cell Biology and Cell Therapy, Lund University, Lund. ewa.sitnicka@med.lu.se
Abstract:
The thymus produces new T cells throughout life but has no self-renewing ability and requires replenishment and recruitment of progenitors derived from the bone marrow. Despite the progress in delineation of mature blood cell development several questions remain regarding T lymphopoiesis. Understanding the developmental stages from multipotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to the T-cell lineage-restricted progenitors has many potential clinical implications as it is important for understanding malignant transformation in T-cell cancer, accelerating T-cell regeneration after bone marrow transplantation and chemotherapy, and establishing new therapies to treat T-cell immune deficiencies. This review focuses on the steps leading from the HSCs in the bone marrow to the lineage committed T cells inside the thymus.
Related Concept Videos
Primary Lymphoid Organs
The red bone marrow is a soft, spongy tissue nestled in the interior of long bones such as the humerus and femur. It is the site...
Cells of the Adaptive Immune Response
T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
T Cell Types and Functions
Th1 cells stimulate dendritic cells to express necessary co-stimulatory molecules on their surfaces for...
Development of Immunocompetence
The initial cells that migrate from the fetal thymus settle within the skin and epithelial tissues lining the mouth, digestive tract, and in females, the uterus and vagina. These cells, including skin-based dendritic cells, serve as antigen-presenting cells, playing a key role in T cell activation.
Subsequent T...
Differentiation of Common Myeloid Progenitor Cells

