Review
Nature Reviews Immunology 2, 760-772 (October 2002) | doi:10.1038/nri913
Development of 
T cells in the human thymus
Hergen Spits1 About the author
Abstract
The thymus is the main producer of 
T cells and is, therefore, crucial for a normal immune system. The intrathymic developmental pathway of human T cells has now been delineated. The production of new T cells by the thymus decreases with age, and the thymus was thought to be redundant in adults once the peripheral T-cell pool has been formed early in life. However, recent work has shown that the thymus can function even at an advanced age. Research into the production of T cells in clinical settings that are associated with loss of T cells in the periphery has sparked renewed interest in the function of the human thymus.
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Author affiliations
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Department of Immunology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Email: h.spits@nki.nl
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