Organizing the thymus gland.
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.
Muñoz
Juan José
JJ
Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.
García-Ceca
Javier
J
Alfaro
David
D
Stimamiglio
Marco Augusto
MA
Cejalvo
Teresa
T
Jiménez
Eva
E
Zapata
Agustín G
AG
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*
D036342:Ephrins; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family