Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Trends Immunol. 2010 Sep;31(9):325-31. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2010.06.005. Epub 2010 Aug 2.
Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) play a critical role in thymic negative selection of autoreactive thymocytes, especially for thymocytes specific for peripheral tissue-restricted self-antigens (TRA). Deficiency in lymphotoxin b receptor (LTbetaR) is associated with peripheral tissue inflammation, but whether this is caused by defective negative selection has been unclear; the significance of the LTbetaR pathway for negative selection is evident in some models but not others. Here, we revisit the data and clarify the role of LTbetaR in mTEC development and function and thymic TRA expression. These processes are discussed as potential mechanisms for LTbetaR-mediated control of negative selection.
骨髓胸腺上皮细胞 (mTECs) 在胸腺中对自身反应性胸腺细胞的阴性选择中起着关键作用,特别是对针对外周组织受限自身抗原 (TRA) 的胸腺细胞。淋巴毒素β受体 (LTβR) 的缺失与外周组织炎症有关,但这是否是由于阴性选择缺陷引起的尚不清楚;LTβR 途径在某些模型中对阴性选择的重要性是明显的,但在其他模型中则不然。在这里,我们重新审视这些数据,并阐明 LTβR 在 mTEC 发育和功能以及胸腺 TRA 表达中的作用。这些过程被讨论为 LTβR 介导的负选择控制的潜在机制。