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The thymus (pl.: thymuses or thymi) is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system.Within the thymus, thymus cell lymphocytes or T cells mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders.
The remaining cells exit the thymus as mature naive T cells, also known as recent thymic emigrants. [13] This process is an important component of central tolerance and serves to prevent the formation of self-reactive T cells that are capable of inducing autoimmune diseases in the host.
Histology of the thymus showing the cortex and medulla Minute structure of thymus. The ability of T cells to recognize foreign antigens is mediated by the T cell receptor (TCR), which is a surface protein able to recognize short protein sequences that are presented on MHC. The purpose of thymocyte development is to produce mature T cells with a ...
In 1989, two scientific groups came up with the hypothesis that the thymus expresses genes which are in the periphery, strictly expressed by specific tissues (e.g.: Insulin produced by β cells of the pancreas) to subsequently present these so-called "tissue-restricted antigens" (TRAs) from almost all parts of the body to developing T cells in order to test which TCRs recognize self-tissues ...
The T cell receptor (TCR) consists of both constant and variable regions. The variable region determines what antigen the T cell can respond to. CD4 + T cells have TCRs with an affinity for Class II MHC, and CD4 is involved in determining MHC affinity during maturation in the thymus.
Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) are specialized cells with high degree of anatomic, phenotypic and functional heterogeneity that are located in the outer layer (epithelium) of the thymic stroma. The thymus , as a primary lymphoid organ , mediates T cell development and maturation.
The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. It is a butterfly-shaped organ consisting of two lobes, located in the top part of the chest, that supports T cell development via specialized microenvironments that ensure a diverse, functional, and self-tolerant T cell population.
In immunology, a naive T cell (T h 0 cell) is a T cell that has differentiated in the thymus, and successfully undergone the positive and negative processes of central selection in the thymus. Among these are the naive forms of helper T cells ( CD4 + ) and cytotoxic T cells ( CD8 + ).