| First Author | Liu C | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | Blood | Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 31-9 |
| PubMed ID | 15358618 | Mgi Jnum | J:96376 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3530373 | Doi | 10.1182/blood-2004-04-1369 |
| Citation | Liu C, et al. (2005) The role of CCL21 in recruitment of T-precursor cells to fetal thymi. Blood 105(1):31-9 |
| abstractText | During embryonic development, T-lymphoid precursor cells colonize the thymus. Chemoattraction by the fetal thymus is thought to mediate T-precursor cell colonization. However, the molecules that attract T-precursor cells to the thymus remain unclear. By devising time-lapse visualization in culture, the present results show that alymphoid fetal thymus lobes attract T-precursor cells from fetal liver or fetal blood. CD4(-)CD8(-)CD25(-)CD44+ fetal thymocytes retained the activity to specifically re-enter the thymus. The attraction was predominantly due to I-A-expressing thymic epithelial cells and was mediated by pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein signals. Among the chemokines produced by the fetal thymus, CCL21, CCL25, and CXCL12 could attract CD4(-)CD8(-)CD25(-)CD44+ fetal thymocytes. However, fetal thymus colonization was markedly diminished by neutralizing antibodies specific for CCL21 and CCL25, but not affected by anti-CXCL12 antibody. Fetal thymus colonization was partially defective in CCL21-deficient plt/plt mice and was further diminished by anti-CCL25 antibody. These results indicate that CCL21 is involved in the recruitment of T-cell precursors to the fetal thymus and suggest that the combination of CCL21 and CCL25 plays a major role in fetal thymus colonization. |
