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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Promoting Thymopoiesis With Age: Potential Role Of The Transcription Factor Foxn1, Erin Christine Zook
Promoting Thymopoiesis With Age: Potential Role Of The Transcription Factor Foxn1, Erin Christine Zook
Dissertations
It is known that the elderly are more susceptible to illnesses and infections and respond poorly to immunization. A contributing factor to a decrease in the immune response in the elderly is the decline in the production of naïve T cell by the thymus. In the thymus, the notch receptor expressed on early T cell progenitors (ETP) binds to its ligand expressed on thymic epithelial cells (TEC), signaling ETP to develop through a series of developmental stages before maturing into naive T cells. Because ETP are non-self renewing, the thymus relies on the bone marrow (BM) for a continuous supply …
Phenotypical And Functional Analysis Of Peripheral T Cells In Foxn1 Transgenic Mice: Effects Of Aging, Paulette Krishack
Phenotypical And Functional Analysis Of Peripheral T Cells In Foxn1 Transgenic Mice: Effects Of Aging, Paulette Krishack
Master's Theses
The thymus is the primary organ for the development and production of TCRαβ naive T cells. However, with increasing age thymic involution occurs, causing a decline in the output of naïve T cells. The decline in naïve T cell production results in a contraction in the peripheral naïve and expansion of the memory T cell pools. Not only are the production and compositions of peripheral T cells altered with age, T cell functions such as T cell proliferation and production of cytokines required for cell proliferation are also declined. Currently, it is not known if restoring the decline in the …