Work

Reduction in the Developmental Potential of Intrathymic T Cell Progenitors with Age

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: Current models of thymic involution propose that intrinsic developmental defects in intrathymic T cell precursors do not contribute to age-related declines in thymopoiesis. This premise was reassessed in a murine model in light of the recent definition of the early T lineage progenitor (ETP), which appears to be the earliest intrathymic precursor defined to date. The results demonstrate that the frequency of ETP declines with age and their potential to reconstitute the thymus is diminished. These findings are consistent with the fact that ETP from aged mice proliferate less and have a higher rate of apoptosis than their counterparts from young animals. Taken together, these data suggest that age-associated changes in T cell precursors should be considered when attempts to rejuvenate the involuted thymus are made.

Source: The Journal of Immunology

DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.173.1.245

Authors: Hyeyoung Min, Encarnacion Montecino-Rodriguez, Kenneth Dorshkind

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Language: English

Topic: T-cell and B-cell Immunology

Subfield: Immunology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, University of California, Los Angeles, National Cancer Institute, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center