title: Organizing the thymus gland.
abstract: Eph receptors and their ligands, ephrins, are molecules involved in the morphogenesis of numerous tissues, including the central nervous system in which they play a key role in determining cell positioning and tissue domains containing or excluding nerve fibers. Because common features have been suggested to occur in the microenvironmental organization of brain and thymus, a highly compartmentalized organ central for T cell differentiation, we examined the expression and possible role of Eph/ephrins in the biology of the thymus gland. We reviewed numerous in vivo and in vitro results that confirm a role for Eph and ephrins in the maturation of the thymic epithelial cell (TEC) network and T cell differentiation. Their possible involvement in different steps of early thymus organogenesis, including thymus primordium branching, lymphoid colonization, and thymocyte-TEC interactions, that determine the organization of a mature three-dimensional thymic epithelial network is also analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Ceca
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alfaro
authors.forename: Marco Augusto
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stimamiglio
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cejalvo
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: Agustín G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Zapata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D036342:Ephrins / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D036342:Ephrins; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family