Expression of Self-antigen in the Thymus

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Abstract
The fact that tissue-specific antigens are expressed in the thymus makes less tenable the hypothesis that autoimmunity results from a failure to impose central tolerance on the developing T cell. Recent studies in different animal models of autoimmunity have shed some light on how tolerance is achieved and subverted in individuals where the target antigen is expressed in the thymus. Here, we illustrate three different scenarios that arise from these studies.