title: Maturation and emigration of single-positive thymocytes.
abstract: T lymphopoiesis in the thymus was thought to be completed once it reaches the single positive (SP) stage, a stage when T cells are "fully mature" and waiting to be exported at random or follow a "first-in-first-out" manner. Recent evidence, however, has revealed that the newly generated SP thymocytes undergo a multistage maturation program in the thymic medulla. Such maturation is followed by a tightly regulated emigration process and a further postthymic maturation of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs). This review summarizes recent progress in the late stage T cell development. The regulation of this developmental process is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Immunology, Peking University Health Science Center, Ministry of Health, 38 Xue Yuan Road, Beijing 100191, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shusong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Pingping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xuan
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D060966:Clonal Selection, Antigen-Mediated; D006801:Humans; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010641:Phenotype; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D060168:Thymocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD