胸腺在適應(yīng)性免疫系統(tǒng)中發(fā)揮各種不同功能，包括通過(guò)胸腺上皮細(xì)胞產(chǎn)生自體可以容忍的胸腺細(xì)胞,，它們發(fā)育成T-淋巴細(xì)胞。人們?cè)鴱V泛假設(shè)胸腺只含有前體上皮細(xì)胞,，細(xì)胞類型也是有限的,。
但對(duì)培養(yǎng)中的大鼠胸腺上皮細(xì)胞所做研究表明，如果暴露于皮膚微環(huán)境,，它們可以被重新編程而具有毛囊多能干細(xì)胞的命運(yùn),。這些細(xì)胞可以被克隆和有選擇性地培養(yǎng)，這些都是與人胸腺上皮細(xì)胞的可能生長(zhǎng)以及潛在臨床應(yīng)用相關(guān)的特性,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
【生物谷會(huì)議推薦：
2010細(xì)胞治療研究進(jìn)展與臨床應(yīng)用前沿研討會(huì) 2010.09.23-2010.09.25
2010細(xì)胞治療研究進(jìn)展與臨床應(yīng)用前沿研討會(huì)（Cell therapy: Bench to Bed）,，將以基礎(chǔ)研究與臨床交叉點(diǎn)作為切入點(diǎn)，邀請(qǐng)國(guó)內(nèi)頂尖的細(xì)胞治療基礎(chǔ)研究和臨床專家,，針對(duì)細(xì)胞治療倫理,、細(xì)胞制品質(zhì)量控制、腫瘤的樹突狀細(xì)胞（DC）治療,、T細(xì)胞過(guò)繼免疫治療,、干細(xì)胞移植治療、基因修飾化細(xì)胞治療,、微囊化細(xì)胞移植治療等熱門議題進(jìn)行討論,。促進(jìn)細(xì)胞治療從基礎(chǔ)研究與臨床應(yīng)用快速、有效地轉(zhuǎn)化,，建立研究與臨床的有效溝通橋梁,。會(huì)議官方網(wǎng)址：www.Cell-therapies.net】
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09269
Microenvironmental reprogramming of thymic epithelial cells to skin multipotent stem cells
Paola Bonfanti,Stéphanie Claudinot,Alessandro W. Amici,Alison Farley,C. Clare Blackburn& Yann Barrandon
The thymus develops from the third pharyngeal pouch of the anterior gut and provides the necessary environment for thymopoiesis (the process by which thymocytes differentiate into mature T lymphocytes) and the establishment and maintenance of self-tolerance1, 2, 3. It contains thymic epithelial cells (TECs) that form a complex three-dimensional network organized in cortical and medullary compartments, the organization of which is notably different from simple or stratified epithelia4. TECs have an essential role in the generation of self-tolerant thymocytes through expression of the autoimmune regulator Aire5, 6, but the mechanisms involved in the specification and maintenance of TECs remain unclear7, 8, 9. Despite the different embryological origins of thymus and skin (endodermal and ectodermal, respectively), some cells of the thymic medulla express stratified-epithelium markers10, 11, 12, interpreted as promiscuous gene expression. Here we show that the thymus of the rat contains a population of clonogenic TECs that can be extensively cultured while conserving the capacity to integrate in a thymic epithelial network and to express major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC II) molecules and Aire. These cells can irreversibly adopt the fate of hair follicle multipotent stem cells when exposed to an inductive skin microenvironment; this change in fate is correlated with robust changes in gene expression. Hence, microenvironmental cues are sufficient here to re-direct epithelial cell fate, allowing crossing of primitive germ layer boundaries and an increase in potency13.
