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Development of thymocytes in organ culture: Migrant cells with natural killer cell characteristics
Author(s) -
Skinner MA,
Moffatt L,
Marbrook J
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1989.15
Subject(s) - cytotoxic t cell , biology , lymphokine activated killer cell , phenotype , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , natural killer cell , natural killer t cell , cell , interleukin 12 , in vitro , genetics , gene
Summary During organ culture of foetal thymic lobes, up to 5% of the thymic cells migrate out of the lobes and a majority of these have phenotypic characteristics of thymocytes or macrophages. Interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) increases the number of these migrant cells, and cytotoxic cells can be detected which display natural killer cell surface markers. In contrast, although cytotoxic activity can be detected in cells from adult thymic fragments cultured with IL‐2, the cytotoxic activity is not detected with natural killer sensitive target cells. The appearance of natural killer‐like cells during the culture of foetal thymic lobes suggests that they are involved in differentiation events which occur at this time in the thymus.