title: The biology of recent thymic emigrants.
abstract: The generation of the TCRαβ lineage of T cells occurs in the thymus through a series of orchestrated developmental events that result in a carefully selected population of CD4 or CD8 lineage-committed TCR(+) thymocytes capable of recognizing foreign antigen in the context of self MHC. T cells first exit the thymus in a phenotypically and functionally immature state and require an approximately 3-week period of post-thymic maturation before transitioning into the mature T cell compartment. A greater understanding of recent thymic emigrant biology has come with the development of methods to exclusively identify and isolate this population for further characterization. I now review current knowledge about the phenotype and function of this key but understudied population of peripheral T cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. pfink@uw.edu
authors.forename: Pamela J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fink
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta