Bone morphogenetic protein‐2/4 signalling pathway components are expressed in the human thymus and inhibit early T‐cell development
- 19 January 2007
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Immunology
- Vol. 121 (1), 94-104
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2567.2007.02541.x
Abstract
T-cell differentiation is driven by a complex network of signals mainly derived from the thymic epithelium. In this study we demonstrate in the human thymus that cortical epithelial cells produce bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) and BMP4 and that both thymocytes and thymic epithelium express all the molecular machinery required for a response to these proteins. BMP receptors, BMPRIA and BMPRII, are mainly expressed by cortical thymocytes while BMPRIB is expressed in the majority of the human thymocytes. Some thymic epithelial cells from cortical and medullary areas express BMP receptors, being also cell targets for in vivo BMP2/4 signalling. The treatment with BMP4 of chimeric human-mouse fetal thymic organ cultures seeded with CD34+ human thymic progenitors results in reduced cell recovery and inhibition of the differentiation of human thymocytes from CD4- CD8- to CD4+ CD8+ cell stages. These results support a role for BMP2/4 signalling in human T-cell differentiation.Keywords
This publication has 69 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dynamics and interaction of caveolin-1 isoforms with BMP-receptorsJournal of Cell Science, 2005
- Fine Tuning and Cross-talking of TGF-β Signal by Inhibitory SmadsBMB Reports, 2005
- Bone Morphogenetic ProteinsGrowth Factors, 2004
- The Bone Morphogenetic Protein Type Ib Receptor Is a Major Mediator of Glial Differentiation and Cell Survival in Adult Hippocampal Progenitor Cell CultureMolecular Biology of the Cell, 2004
- Mechanisms for Removal of Developmentally Abnormal Cells: Cell Competition and Morphogenetic ApoptosisThe Journal of Biochemistry, 2004
- Lipid rafts in lymphocyte activationMicrobes and Infection, 2004
- Expression of Hedgehog Proteins in the Human ThymusJournal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 2003
- Mechanisms of TGF-β Signaling from Cell Membrane to the NucleusCell, 2003
- Stromal cell–derived factor 1/CXCR4 signaling is critical for early human T-cell developmentBlood, 2002
- Opponent Activities of Shh and BMP Signaling during Floor Plate Induction In VivoCurrent Biology, 2002