REVIEW - Thymic emigration: when and how T cells leave home

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The Journal of Immunology, 2008, 181, 2265 -2270

Thymic Emigration: When and How T Cells Leave Home

A. Weinreich and A. Hogquist2

Center for Immunology and Department of Laboratory Medicine and

Pathology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN

55455

Abstract

The thymus supports the differentiation of multiple distinct T cell

subsets that play unique roles in the immune system. CD4 and CD8 /β T

cells, / T cells, NKT cells, regulatory T cells, and intraepithelial

lymphocytes all develop in the thymus and must leave it to provide

their functions elsewhere in the body. This article will review recent

research indicating differences in the time and migration patterns of

T cell subsets found in the thymus. Additionally, we review current

understanding of the molecules involved in thymocyte emigration,

including the sphingolipid receptor S1P1 and its regulation by the

Krüppel-like transcription factor KLF2.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/full/181/4/2265

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