Guyden J C, Martinez M, Chilukuri R V E, Reid V, Kelly F, Samms M-O D
Department of Biology, The City College of New York, MR-526, New York, NY 10031, USA.
Curr Mol Med. 2015;15(9):828-35. doi: 10.2174/1566524015666151026102328.
Thymic nurse cells (TNCs) are specialized epithelial cells that reside in the thymic cortex. The initial report of their discovery in 1980 showed TNCs to contain up to 200 thymocytes within specialized vacuoles in their cytoplasm. Much has been reported since that time to determine the function of this heterotypic internalization event that exists between TNCs and developing thymocytes. In this review, we discuss the literature reported that describes the internalization event and the role TNCs play during T cell development in the thymus as well as why these multicellular complexes may be important in inhibiting the development of autoimmune diseases.
胸腺哺育细胞（TNCs）是位于胸腺皮质的特殊上皮细胞。1980年关于它们的最初发现报告显示，TNCs在其细胞质的特殊液泡中含有多达200个胸腺细胞。自那时以来，已有许多报道致力于确定TNCs与发育中的胸腺细胞之间这种异型内化事件的功能。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了已报道的文献，这些文献描述了内化事件以及TNCs在胸腺中T细胞发育过程中所起的作用，以及为什么这些多细胞复合体在抑制自身免疫性疾病的发展中可能很重要。
