Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Isolation and Transplantation of Different Aged Murine Thymic Grafts.
Published on: May 13, 2015
The thymus in immunity and in malignancy
1Author's Affiliations: Harvard Medical School; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts; University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; and University of Munich, Munich, Germany Harald_von_Boehmer@dfci.harvard.edu.
Abstract:
The thymus is an essential organ for the generation of the adaptive immune system. By now, the cellular selection events taking place in ongoing life before sexual maturity have been worked out even at the molecular level, and thus thymic lymphocyte development represents one of the best-studied systems in mammalian development. Because thymic lymphocyte development involves ample proliferation and generation of new cells, it is not astonishing that the thymus also represents an organ where malignancy can develop. In this Masters of Immunology primer, the development of lymphocytes and the role of intracellular Notch 1 and cyclins in lymphocytic malignancy are reviewed, offering new therapeutic possibilities.
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