The role of cytokine receptor signaling in lymphocyte development.
Cytokine receptor signaling plays an essential role in the early stages of lymphocyte development. Signals through various cytokine receptors - such as c-kit, flt3/flk2, CXCR4, the IL-7 receptor and the IL-15 receptor - are known to promote the expansion and survival of uncommitted progenitor cells as well as their migration to the appropriate microenvironment and subsequent differentiation into B, T or natural killer cells. The recent generation of mice deficient in one or more of these signaling pathways has revealed which cytokines play unique and/or redundant roles in each of these lymphocyte lineages during this developmental process.
D000818:Animals; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000502:physiology; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000502:physiology; D015851:Interleukin-7 / Q000502:physiology; D053616:Janus Kinase 3; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000502:physiology; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000502:physiology; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine / Q000502:physiology*; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7 / Q000502:physiology; D019089:Stem Cell Factor / Q000502:physiology