Journal article
Multilineage potential and self-renewal define an epithelial progenitor cell population in the adult thymus
K Wong, NL Lister, M Barsanti, JMC Lim, MV Hammett, DM Khong, C Siatskas, DHD Gray, RL Boyd, AP Chidgey
Cell Reports | CELL PRESS | Published : 2014
Open access
Abstract
Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) are critical for Tcell development and self-tolerance but are gradually lost with age. The existence of thymic epithelial progenitors (TEPCs) in the postnatal thymus has been inferred, but their identity has remained enigmatic. Here, we assessed the entire adult TEC compartment in order to reveal progenitor capacity is retained exclusively within a subset of immature thymic epithelium displaying several hallmark features of stem/progenitor function. These adult TEPCs generate mature cortical and medullary lineages in a stepwise fashion, including Aire+ TEC, within fetal thymus reaggregate grafts. Although relatively quiescent invivo, adult TEPCs demonstrate sig..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Jade Homann for her expert mouse surgery and Dr. Jonathan McQualter and Professor Ivan Bertoncello for their technical assistance with the 3D transwell assays; A/Prof Sharon Ricardo (Renal Regeneration Group, Monash University) and Dr. Susie Nilsson at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) for providing GFP and RFP mice, respectively; Dr. Judy Callaghan and the team at Monash Micro Imaging (Monash University) for their scientific and technical assistance; and the team at Flowcore (Monash University) for their expert cell sorting. This work was supported by grants from the Australian Stem Cell Centre, the Victoria-California Stem Cell Alliance (DIIRD/CIRM), and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC).