| First Author | Tsai PT | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | Blood | Volume | 102 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | 3947-53 |
| PubMed ID | 12920023 | Mgi Jnum | J:86677 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2681064 | Doi | 10.1182/blood-2003-05-1657 |
| Citation | Tsai PT, et al. (2003) BMP4 acts upstream of FGF in modulating thymic stroma and regulating thymopoiesis. Blood 102(12):3947-53 |
| abstractText | Thymocyte development is a non-cell-autonomous process that requires signals provided by the thymic stroma. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) derived from thymic stroma have been implicated as possible regulators of T-cell development. Using thymic organ culture, this study demonstrates that both BMP4 and FGF7/FGF10 arrest early T-cell development at the CD4-CD8-CD44+CD25- (double-negative 1 [DN1]) population and at the CD4-CD8- double-negative (DN) to CD4+CD8+ double-positive (DP) transition in a stromal compartment-dependent manner. Furthermore, BMP4 functions upstream of FGF7/FGF10, as the effects of BMP can be suppressed by cotreatment with an FGF receptor antagonist. BMP4 also acts directly on the thymic stroma to up-regulate the stroma-specific transcription factor Foxn1 and stroma-expressed chemokines. Taken together, the data in this report demonstrate that BMP acts upstream of FGF in the regulation of early T-cell development and that BMP4 acts primarily through the thymic stroma, thereby altering the thymic microenvironment and affecting thymopoiesis. |
