| First Author | Hamazaki Y | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 304-11 |
| PubMed ID | 17277780 | Mgi Jnum | J:118669 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3700089 | Doi | 10.1038/ni1438 |
| Citation | Hamazaki Y, et al. (2007) Medullary thymic epithelial cells expressing Aire represent a unique lineage derived from cells expressing claudin. Nat Immunol 8(3):304-11 |
| abstractText | The autoimmune regulator Aire is expressed in a small proportion of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) and is crucial in the induction of central T cell tolerance. The origin and development of Aire(+) mTECs, however, are not well understood. Here we demonstrate that the tight-junction components claudin-3 and claudin-4 (Cld3,4) were 'preferentially' expressed in Aire(+) mTECs. In early ontogeny, Cld3,4(hi) TECs derived from the most apical layer of the stratified thymic anlage first expressed known mTEC markers such as UEA-1 ligand and MTS10. We provide evidence that such Cld3,4(hi) UEA-1(+) TECs represented the initial progenitors specified for Aire(+) mTECs, whose development crucially required NF-kappaB-inducing kinase and the adaptor molecule TRAF6. Our results suggest that Aire(+) mTECs represent terminally differentiated cells in a unique lineage arising during thymic organogenesis. |
