Nakamura T, Ikehara S, Good R A, Inoe S, Sekita K, Furukawa F, Tanaka H, Oo M M, Hamashima Y
Thymus. 1985;7(3):151-60.
Autoimmune-prone mice show premature thymic involution, including morphological and functional abnormalities. To determine why the thymic abnormalities develop in autoimmune-prone mice, transplantation of the thymus and/or bone marrow was performed. When thymuses of newborn MRL/1 (H-2k) mice were grafted into C3H/HeN nu/nu(H-2k) mice, the engrafted thymuses did not show the abnormalities which characterize the thymus in the autoimmune-prone MRL/1 mice. By contrast, when thymuses of newborn C3H/HeN or MRL/n mice were grafted into MRL/1 mice, the engrafted thymuses developed after an interval of 3 months the same morphological abnormalities as were seen in MRL/1 mice. Thus, we can conclude that premature involution of the thymus in autoimmune-prone mice may not be a genetically determined abnormality intrinsic to the thymus, but rather an abnormality secondary to other events occurring in these mice. When bone marrow of young C3H/HeN nu/nu mice was transplanted into irradiated (850 rad) MRL/1 mice, neither thymic abnormalities nor autoimmune diseases developed. Therefore, it seem likely that abnormal stem cells in autoimmune-prone mice induce thymic abnormalities, and these, in turn, are associated with the development of autoimmune diseases.
自身免疫易感小鼠表现出胸腺过早退化，包括形态和功能异常。为了确定自身免疫易感小鼠为何会出现胸腺异常，进行了胸腺和/或骨髓移植。将新生MRL/1（H-2k）小鼠的胸腺移植到C3H/HeN nu/nu（H-2k）小鼠体内时，移植的胸腺并未表现出自身免疫易感MRL/1小鼠胸腺所特有的异常。相反，将新生C3H/HeN或MRL/n小鼠的胸腺移植到MRL/1小鼠体内时，移植的胸腺在3个月后出现了与MRL/1小鼠相同的形态异常。因此，我们可以得出结论，自身免疫易感小鼠的胸腺过早退化可能不是胸腺固有的遗传决定异常，而是这些小鼠中发生的其他事件继发的异常。当将年轻的C3H/HeN nu/nu小鼠的骨髓移植到经辐照（850拉德） 的MRL/1小鼠体内时，既未出现胸腺异常，也未发生自身免疫性疾病。因此，自身免疫易感小鼠中的异常干细胞似乎会诱发胸腺异常，而这些异常又与自身免疫性疾病的发展有关。
