In today’s open access paper, researchers map out the various epithelial progenitor cell populations responsible for producing and then maintaining the thymus, finding that these cells are quite diverse, with several types participating at different times during development and adult life. The thymus is of great interest in the context of aging because (a) it is where thymocytes mature into T cells of the adaptive immune system, and (b) it atrophies with age, active tissue replaced by fat, and the supply of new T cells greatly diminished. This is one of the major contributions to the age-related decline of the immune system. A better understanding o…
Life-Long KGF Overexpression Produces a Very Much Larger Thymus in Aged Mice
In today’s open access paper, researchers map out the various epithelial progenitor cell populations responsible for producing and then maintaining the thymus, finding that these cells are quite diverse, with several types participating at different times during development and adult life. The thymus is of great interest in the context of aging because (a) it is where thymocytes mature into T cells of the adaptive immune system, and (b) it atrophies with age, active tissue replaced by fat, and the supply of new T cells greatly diminished. This is one of the major contributions to the age-related decline of the immune system. A better understanding o…