Summary
T cell development occurs predominantly in the thymus, although some thymus independent T cells certainly occur in tissues such as the gut. Thymic development is dependent on continual replacement of intrathymic precursors with new precursors from the bone marrow, but it is still unclear whether the cells that migrate into the thymus are multi potential or committed to the T or lymphoid pathways. Although a T cell precursor with limited potential has not been found in adult murine bone marrow, the presence of such a cell in human bone marrow and the absence of a multi potent stem cell inside the thymus of the mouse, suggests that lineage commitment (or at least partial commitment) occurs prior to migration of precursors to the thymus. The identification of the pre-thymic but committed precursor in the murine bone marrow awaits better markers and more refined experimental strategies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Donskoy E, Goldschneider I. (1992) Thymocytopoiesis is maintained by blood-born precursors throughout postnatal life. A study in parabiotic mice. J Immunol 148: 1604–1612
Scollay R, Smith J, Stauffer V. (1986) Dynamics of early T cells: Prothymocyte migration and proliferation in the adult mouse thymus. Immunol Rev 91: 129–157
Micklem HS, Ford CE, Evans EP, Gray J. (1966) Interrelationships of myeloid and lymphoid cells: Studies with chromosomally marked cells transferred in lethally irradiated mice. Proc Roy Soc London Series 3 165: 78
Boersma W, Betel I, Daculsi R, van der Wester G (1981) Post irradiation thymocyte regeneration after bone marrow transplantation. I. Regeneration and quantification of thymocyte progenitor cells n the bone marrow. Cell Tissue Kinet 14: 179
Metcalf D (1966) Its role in immune responses, leukemia development and carcinogenesis. Springer-Verlag, New York thymectomised and normal mice. Nature 214: 801
Scollay R, Shortman K. (1985) Cell traffic in the adult thymus: Cell entry and exit, cell birth and death. In:Recognition and regulation in cell-mediated immunity. Eds JD Watson and J Marbrook, Marcel Dekker Inc, New York and Basel
Spangrude GJ, Smith L, Uchida N, Ikuta K, Heimfeld S, Friedman J, Weissman IL (1991) Mouse hematopoietic stem cells. Blood 78: 1395–1402
Spangrude GJ, Scollay R. (1990) Differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells in irradiated mouse thymic lobes: kinetics and phenotype of progeny. J Immunol 145: 3661–3668
Godfrey DI, Kennedy J, Suda T, Zlotnik A. (1993) A developmental pathway involving four phenotypically and functionally distinct subsets of CD3–CD4-CD8triple-negative adult mouse thymocytes defined by CD44 and CD25. J Immunol 150: 4244–4252
Scollay R, Wilson A, D’Amico A, Kelly K, Egerton M, Pearse M, Wu L, Shortman W. (1988) Developmental status and reconstitution potential of subpopulation of murine thymocytes. Immunol Rev 104: 81
Pearse M, Wu L, Egerton M, Wilson A, Shortman K, Scollay R. (1989) A murine early thymocyte developmental sequence is marked by transient expression of the interleukin 2 receptor. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86: 1614–1618
Wu L, Antica M, Johnson GR, Scollay R, Shortman K. (1991) Developmental potential of the earliest precursor cells from the adult thymus. J Exp Med 174: 1617–1627
Antica M, Wu L, Shortman K, Scollay R. (1994) Thymic stem cells in the mouse bone marrow. Blood 84: 111–117
Godfrey DI, Zlotnik A. (1993) Control points in early T-cell development. Immunol Today 14: 547–553
Wu L, Scollay R, Egerton M, Pearse M, Spangrude GJ, Shortman K. (1991) The earliest T-lineage precursor cells in the adult murine thymus express low levels of CD4. Nature 349: 71–74
Ardavin C, Wu L, Li C-L, Shortman K. (1993) Thymic dendritic cells and T cells develop simultaneously within the thymus from a common precursor population. Nature 362: 761–763
Galy AHM, Cen D, Travis M, Chen S, Chen BP (1995) Delineation of T progenitor cell activity within the CD34+ compartment of adult bone marrow. Blood 85: 27702778
Barg M, Mandel TE, Johnson GR. (1978) Haemopoietic cells in foetal mouse thymus. Aust J Exp Biol & Med Sci 56: 195–200
Ezine S, Papiernik M, Lepault F. (1991) Persistence of stem cell activity within the murine thymus after transfer of a bone marrow fraction enriched in CFU-S. Int Immunol 3: 237–243
Rodewald H-R, Kretzschmar K, Takeda S, Itohl C, Dessing M. (1994) Identification of pro-thymocytes in murine fetal blood: T lineage commitment can precede thymus colonization. EMBO J 13: 4229–4240
Antica M, Wu L, Shortman K, Scollay R. (1993) Intrathymic lymphoid precursor cells during fetal thymus development J Immunol 151: 5887–5895
Wallis V, Leuchars E, Chwalinski S, Davies AJS. (1975) On the sparse seeding of bone marrow and thymus in radiation chimeras. Transplantation 19: 2
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer-Verlag Tokyo
About this paper
Cite this paper
Scollay, R., Antica, M. (1996). Stem cells for lymphocytes: comments on the time and place of commitment of precursors for the T lineage. In: Ikehara, S., Takaku, F., Good, R.A. (eds) Bone Marrow Transplantation. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68320-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68320-9_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-68322-3
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-68320-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive