Promiscuous gene expression in medullary thymic epithelial cells mirrors the peripheral self
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- 15 October 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature Immunology
- Vol. 2 (11) , 1032-1039
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ni723
Abstract
Expression of peripheral antigens in the thymus has been implicated in T cell tolerance and autoimmunity. Here we identified medullary thymic epithelial cells as being a unique cell type that expresses a diverse range of tissue-specific antigens. We found that this promiscuous gene expression was a cell-autonomous property of medullary epithelial cells and was maintained during the entire period of thymic T cell output. It may facilitate tolerance induction to self-antigens that would otherwise be temporally or spatially secluded from the immune system. However, the array of promiscuously expressed self-antigens appeared random rather than selected and was not confined to secluded self-antigens.Keywords
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