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Updated: Apr 22, 2026

Preparation and Applications of Organotypic Thymic Slice Cultures
Published on: August 6, 2016
Thymic nurse cells: possible sites of T-cell selection
1Institute for Immunology and Genetics, German Cancer Research Centre, D-69 Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, FRG.
Abstract:
The precise role of the thymic microenvironment in induction and selection of the T-cell repertoire, a matter of considerable interest to immunologists, has been difficult to define. Direct cell-cell interactions between thymocytes and distinct stromal cells are an important component of this thymic microenvironment. Thymic epithelial cells, in particular, have been suspected to select immature T cells for self MHC-specificity via direct cell-cell contact. Here, Bruno Kyewski discusses the type of epithelial cells known as thymic nurse cells and their remarkable association with the thymocytes which are completely enclosed within them.
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