The role of thymic epithelium in the acquisition of tolerance.
There are two separate mechanisms of induction of T-cell tolerance in the thymus. First, MHC molecules expressed on bone-marrow-derived cells can cause clonal deletion of autoreactive cells. Second, as discussed here by Elisabeth Houssaint and Martin Flajnik, thymic epithelial cells can generate a form of tolerance that does not eliminate self-reactive clones. This nondeletional mechanism, which is also a feature of the other MHC class-II-bearing epithelia, may contribute to the establishment of tolerance-maintaining regulatory networks.
Houssaint
E
E
U 211 INSERM, Faculté de Médecine, Nantes, France.
Flajnik
M
M
D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*