Thymus articles within Nature

Featured

• Article | 23 December 2020

  RANK links thymic regulatory T cells to fetal loss and gestational diabetes in pregnancy

  RANK promotes the hormone-mediated development of thymic regulatory T cells during pregnancy; loss of RANK is associated with impaired maturation of maternal regulatory T cells, leading to fetal loss and the development of gestational diabetes.

  • Magdalena Paolino
  • , Rubina Koglgruber
  •  & Josef M. Penninger

• Letter | 18 July 2018

  Thymic tuft cells promote an IL-4-enriched medulla and shape thymocyte development

  A comprehensive analysis of the thymic medulla identifies a tuft-cell-like thymic epithelial cell population that is necessary for shaping thymic function.

  • Corey N. Miller
  • , Irina Proekt
  •  & Mark S. Anderson

• Letter | 02 February 2011

  A thymus candidate in lampreys

  Jawless fish were recently shown to possess T- and B-like lymphocytes expressing diverse assembled antigen receptors. This study identifies and characterizes lympho-epithelial thymus-like structures at the tips of gill filaments of lamprey larvae, thus providing evidence that the similarities underlying the adaptive immune systems of both types of vertebrate appear to extend to primary lymphoid organs.

  • Baubak Bajoghli
  • , Peng Guo
  •  & Thomas Boehm

• Letter | 19 August 2010

  Microenvironmental reprogramming of thymic epithelial cells to skin multipotent stem cells

  The thymus contains thymic epithelial cells (TECs), which form a complex three-dimensional network organized into cortical and medullary compartments. It is shown here that these cells are plastic. Clonogenic TECs can acquire new properties when exposed to the skin microenvironment; under such conditions, they can permanently adopt the fate of hair follicle multipotent stem cells. Hence, microenvironmental cues can be sufficient to re-direct epithelial cell fate.

  • Paola Bonfanti
  • , Stéphanie Claudinot
  •  & Yann Barrandon