TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ucar, Ahmet
AU  - Ucar, Olga
AU  - Klug, Paula
AU  - Matt, Sonja
AU  - Brunk, Fabian
AU  - Hofmann, Thomas
AU  - Kyewski, Bruno
TI  - Adult thymus contains FoxN1(-) epithelial stem cells that are bipotent for medullary and cortical thymic epithelial lineages.
JO  - Immunity
VL  - 41
IS  - 2
SN  - 1074-7613
CY  - [Cambridge, Mass.]
PB  - Cell Press
M1  - DKFZ-2017-04463
SP  - 257 - 269
PY  - 2014
AB  - Within the thymus, two major thymic epithelial cell (TEC) subsets-cortical and medullary TECs-provide unique structural and functional niches for T cell development and establishment of central tolerance. Both lineages are believed to originate from a common progenitor cell, yet the cellular and molecular identity of these bipotent TEC progenitors/stem cells remains ill defined. Here we identify rare stromal cells in the murine adult thymus, which under low-attachment conditions formed spheres (termed 'thymospheres'). These thymosphere-forming cells (TSFCs) displayed the stemness features of being slow cycling, self-renewing, and bipotent. TSFCs could be significantly enriched based on their distinct surface antigen phenotype. The FoxN1 transcription factor was dispensable for TSFCs maintenance in situ and for commitment to the medullary and cortical TEC lineages. In summary, this study presents the characterization of the adult thymic epithelial stem cells and demonstrates the dispensability of FoxN1 function for their stemness.
KW  - Antigens, CD24 (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Antigens, Ly (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Antigens, Neoplasm (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Cd24a protein, mouse (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Cell Adhesion Molecules (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Forkhead Transcription Factors (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Ly6a protein, mouse (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Membrane Proteins (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Whn protein (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Antigens, CD45 (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Ptprc protein, mouse (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:25148026
C2  - pmc:PMC4148705
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.immuni.2014.07.005
UR  - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/128447
ER  -