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Decision checkpoints in the thymus

Nature Immunology volume 11, pages 666–673 (2010)Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on 15 February 2011

This article has been updated

Abstract

The development of T cells in the thymus involves several differentiation and proliferation events, during which hematopoietic precursors give rise to T cells ready to respond to antigen stimulation and undergo effector differentiation. This review addresses signaling and transcriptional checkpoints that control the intrathymic journey of T cell precursors. We focus on the divergence of αβ and γδ lineage cells and the elaboration of the αβ T cell repertoire, with special emphasis on the emergence of transcriptional programs that direct lineage decisions.

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Figure 1: Overview of T cell development, depicting thymic developmental stages.
Figure 2: Transcriptional circuitries in differentiating αβ T cells.
Figure 3: CD4-CD8 lineage differentiation.
Figure 4: An hypothetical transcriptional network in mature thymocytes and T cells.

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  • 02 September 2010

    In the version of this article initially published online, no Competing Financial Interest statement was included. The authors declare no competing financial interests. The error has been corrected for all versions of this article.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Ashwell, A. Bhandoola, A. Gégonne, P. Love and A. Singer for their comments on the manuscript. We apologize to colleagues whose work was not directly referenced because of space constraints. Research work in the authors' laboratory is supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute, Center for Cancer Research, US National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Laboratory of Immune Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Andrea C Carpenter & Rémy Bosselut

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  1. Andrea C Carpenter
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Correspondence to Rémy Bosselut.

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Carpenter, A., Bosselut, R. Decision checkpoints in the thymus. Nat Immunol 11, 666–673 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.1887

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