Thymus epithelium induces tissue-specific tolerance.
Most current models of T cell development include a positive selection step in the thymus that occurs when T cells interact with thymic epithelium and a negative selection step after encounters with bone marrow-derived cells. We show here that developing T cells are tolerized when they recognize antigens expressed by thymic epithelium, that the tolerance is tissue specific, and that it can occur by deletion of the reactive T cells.
Bonomo
A
A
Laboratory for Cellular and Molecular Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Matzinger
P
P
D000818:Animals; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000276:immunology; D011247:Pregnancy; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*