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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Isolation, Identification, and Purification of Murine Thymic Epithelial Cells
Published on: August 8, 2014
Targeted deletion of c-Met in thymic epithelial cells leads to an autoimmune phenotype
Min Su1,2, Rong Hu1, Yinhong Song1,3
1Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Abstract:
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor c-Met signaling have been implicated in regulating various types of cells including epithelial cells. We have previously reported that c-Met is expressed by thymic epithelial cells (TECs), and that in vivo administration of hybrid cytokines containing IL-7 and the beta- or alpha-chain of HGF significantly increase the number of TECs. In order to study the role of c-Met signaling in TECs, we generated conditional knockout (cKO) mice in which c-Met was specifically deleted in TECs using a Foxn1-Cre transgene. We show here that c-Met deficiency in TECs results in age-progressive reduction in TEC number and reduced number of regulatory T cells. Consequently, c-Met TEC cKO mice displayed an autoimmune phenotype. Thus, c-Met signaling in TECs is important for the maintenance of TECs and immune self-tolerance.
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