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THEMIS, the new kid on the block for T-cell development

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 14, pages 721–723 (2017)Cite this article

Understanding T-cell development is a major goal of the immunology field and is crucial for the elucidation of the mechanisms behind self-tolerance and the occurrence of autoimmune disorders. T-cell development is a complex process that begins in the bone marrow or fetal liver, where lymphoid progenitors arise. Then, these progenitor cells migrate to the thymus to start the commitment into the T-cell lineage.1, 2 Thymocyte development has been described as a series of well-documented differentiation steps characterized according to the cell-surface expression of CD4 and CD8 co-receptors.1 In the initial step, thymocytes are double negative (DN; CD4− CD8−). In the second step, they become double positive (DP; CD4+ CD8+) before finally maturing into single-positive T cells (SP; CD4 or CD8).2

Thymocyte selection is essential for lineage commitment. This phenomenon occurs at the DP stage. The T-cell receptor (TCR) interacts with self-peptide–MHC ligands on the surface of cortical thymic epithelial cells.1 Then, thymocytes are selected according to the nature of TCR signaling induced by the self-peptide–MHC ligands. While it is thought that signaling derived from weak TCR/MHC-peptide interactions leads to delayed apoptosis (death by neglect), strong TCR signaling promotes acute apoptosis (negative selection). An optimal intermediate activation of TCR signaling leads to positive selection and continues the maturation process to the CD4SP or CD8 stage.1

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Acknowledgements

The authors are supported by CONICYT/FONDECYT no 3150559, CONICYT no 21130507, FONDECYT 1150862 and the Millennium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy, P09/016-f.

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  1. Janyra A Espinoza and Evelyn L Jara: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Millennium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Janyra A Espinoza, Evelyn L Jara & Alexis M Kalergis

  2. Departamento de Endocrinología, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Alexis M Kalergis

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  1. Janyra A Espinoza
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Correspondence to Alexis M Kalergis.

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Espinoza, J., Jara, E. & Kalergis, A. THEMIS, the new kid on the block for T-cell development. Cell Mol Immunol 14, 721–723 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2017.34

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