Hanahan D
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics Hormone Research Institute University of California at San Francisco CA 94143-0534 USA.
Curr Opin Immunol. 1998 Dec;10(6):656-62. doi: 10.1016/s0952-7915(98)80085-x.
The thymus expresses many genes previously thought to be specific for cell types in other organs. Thus, insulin genes are expressed in rare cells of the thymic medulla. Thymus transplantation demonstrates a functional capability of such expression for self-tolerance induction. Correlative studies suggest that impaired thymic expression confers susceptibility to autoimmune disease.
胸腺表达许多以前被认为是其他器官细胞类型所特有的基因。因此，胰岛素基因在胸腺髓质的罕见细胞中表达。胸腺移植证明了这种表达在诱导自身耐受性方面的功能能力。相关研究表明，胸腺表达受损会使人易患自身免疫性疾病。
