The thymus and negative selection.
Maintenance of tolerance to self antigens is presumed to reflect a combination of central and peripheral tolerance. For T cells, central tolerance occurs during early T cell development in the thymus and causes cells with strong reactivity to self antigens to be destroyed in situ (negative selection). Here, we summarize evidence that negative selection can occur in the thymic medulla and affects a population of semimature HSA+ T cells. The influence of costimulatory molecules, Fas and cytokines on negative selection is discussed.
Department of Immunology, IMM4, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. jsprent@scripps.edu
Jonathan
J
Sprent
Hidehiro
H
Kishimoto
D000818:Animals; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000276:immunology
D001324:Autoantigens; D016207:Cytokines; D019014:fas Receptor