Abstract
T cell development depends critically on several distinct thymic epithelial cell types that are organized into two main compartments: cortex and medulla. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that these derive from ectoderm and endoderm, respectively. Here we show that lineage analysis provides no evidence for an ectodermal contribution to the thymic rudiment. We further demonstrate, via ectopic transplantation, that isolated pharyngeal endoderm can generate a functional thymus containing organized cortical and medullary regions and that this capacity is not potentiated by the presence of pharyngeal ectoderm. These data establish that the cortical and medullary thymic epithelial compartments derive from a single germ layer, the endoderm, thus refuting the 'dual-origin' model of thymic epithelial ontogeny.
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Acknowledgements
We thank A. Medvinsky for critical discussion, C.L. Bennett for assistance with flow cytometry and Biomed Unit staff for animal care. Supported by the Medical Research Council, UK (C.C.B., J.G., J.S. and V.A.W.), Leukaemia Research Fund, UK (C.C.B., N.B. and A.F.), National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD035920 to N.R.M.) and Wellcome Trust (C.C.B. and N.R.M.).
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Gordon, J., Wilson, V., Blair, N. et al. Functional evidence for a single endodermal origin for the thymic epithelium. Nat Immunol 5, 546–553 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1064
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1064
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