Elsevier

Seminars in Immunology

Volume 11, Issue 1, January 1999, Pages 57-64
Seminars in Immunology

Regular Article
Thymic microenvironments, 3-D versus 2-D?

https://doi.org/10.1006/smim.1998.0158Get rights and content

Abstract

Lympho-stromal interactions in the thymus crucially de- termine the fate of developing T cells. Epithelial cells, inter- digitating reticular cells, macrophages and fibroblasts all play a role in the shaping of the T cell repertoire. Recently published evidence shows that lympho-stromal interaction acts bi-directional. Developing T cell themselves, at different stages of differentiation, control the microarchitecture of thymic microenvironments, a phenomenon designated as `crosstalk'. This paper reviews experiments showing that developing T cells crosstalk to different thymic epithelial cells in a stepwise fashion. In this way, correctly organized thymic microenvironments guarantee normal thymopoiesis.

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