胸腺在適應性免疫系統(tǒng)中發(fā)揮各種不同功能,，包括通過胸腺上皮細胞產(chǎn)生自體可以容忍的胸腺細胞,，它們發(fā)育成T-淋巴細胞。人們曾廣泛假設胸腺只含有前體上皮細胞,，細胞類型也是有限的,。
但對培養(yǎng)中的大鼠胸腺上皮細胞所做研究表明，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胞的命運,。這些細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胞的可能生長以及潛在臨床應用相關的特性,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
【生物谷會議推薦：
2010細胞治療研究進展與臨床應用前沿研討會 2010.09.23-2010.09.25
2010細胞治療研究進展與臨床應用前沿研討會（Cell therapy: Bench to Bed）,，將以基礎研究與臨床交叉點作為切入點，邀請國內(nèi)頂尖的細胞治療基礎研究和臨床專家,，針對細胞治療倫理,、細胞制品質(zhì)量控制、腫瘤的樹突狀細胞（DC）治療,、T細胞過繼免疫治療、干細胞移植治療,、基因修飾化細胞治療,、微囊化細胞移植治療等熱門議題進行討論。促進細胞治療從基礎研究與臨床應用快速,、有效地轉(zhuǎn)化,，建立研究與臨床的有效溝通橋梁。會議官方網(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.
