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Organizing the Thymus Gland
Author(s) -
Muñoz Juan José,
GarcíaCeca Javier,
Alfaro David,
Stimamiglio Marco Augusto,
Cejalvo Teresa,
Jiménez Eva,
Zapata Agustín G.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2008.03965.x
Subject(s) - erythropoietin producing hepatocellular (eph) receptor , ephrin , biology , primordium , organogenesis , morphogenesis , microbiology and biotechnology , receptor , thymocyte , t cell , immunology , signal transduction , immune system , genetics , gene , receptor tyrosine kinase
Eph receptors and their ligands, ephrins, are molecules involved in the morphogenesis of numerous tissues, including the central nervous system in which they play a key role in determining cell positioning and tissue domains containing or excluding nerve fibers. Because common features have been suggested to occur in the microenvironmental organization of brain and thymus, a highly compartmentalized organ central for T cell differentiation, we examined the expression and possible role of Eph/ephrins in the biology of the thymus gland. We reviewed numerous in vivo and in vitro results that confirm a role for Eph and ephrins in the maturation of the thymic epithelial cell (TEC) network and T cell differentiation. Their possible involvement in different steps of early thymus organogenesis, including thymus primordium branching, lymphoid colonization, and thymocyte–TEC interactions, that determine the organization of a mature three‐dimensional thymic epithelial network is also analyzed.