ArticleDevelopment (Cambridge, England)2014
Regeneration of the aged thymus by a single transcription factor.
Article in Development (Cambridge, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
118 citing papers in PubMed, 191 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Ly6d expression delineates two putative postnatal thymus epithelial progenitor cells that are differentially affected by aging.Science advances · 2026Article
- Clinical rationale for thymic restoration in adult immunosenescence.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2026Review
- Foxp1 controls Fezf2-dependent gene expression, mimetic mTEC diversity, and thymic central tolerance.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2026Article
- Aging diminishes thymic output, reduces naive T cells, promotes memory T-cell accumulation, and impairs thymic regeneration.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2026Article
- From Development to Aging: Dynamic Roles of the Thymic Medulla in T Cell Biology.Immunological reviews · 2026Review
- RNA-binding proteins Zfp36l1 and Zfp36l2 protect against premature thymic involution.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Article
- Molecular heterogeneity and differential metabolic signatures in thymic adipocytes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Proteasome inhibition promotes Foxn1 expression in thymic epithelial cells and induces thymic regeneration in mice.Cell death and differentiation · 2026Article
- Age-related thymic involution: Mechanistic insights and rejuvenating approaches to restore immune function.Science advances · 2026Review
- Hematopoietic (stem) cells-The elixir of life?FEBS letters · 2026Review
- miR-194-5p-mediated suppression of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 12 (PTPN12) expression in the thymus enhances immunologic functional restoration in aged mice.European journal of medical research · 2026Article
- Thymic regeneration and tumor immunotherapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Network-orchestrated regulation of thymic dysfunction and restoration.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Mechanism and intervention strategy of thymus atrophy in cancer immunotherapy.American journal of cancer research · 2026Review
- The cellular senescence-metabolism axis: emerging insights into T cell dynamics in the context of biological aging.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2025Review
- Premature thymic involution in young Foxn1lacz mutant mice causes peripheral T cell phenotypes similar to aging-induced immunosenescence.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2025Article
- Enhancing thymic function improves T-cell reconstitution and immune responses in aged mice.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Endogenous thymic regeneration: restoring T cell production following injury.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025Review
- Insulin-like growth factor 2 as a driving force for exponential expansion and differentiation of the neonatal thymus.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Thymic involution is central to the decline in immune system function that occurs with age. By regenerating the thymus, it may therefore be possible to improve the ability of the aged immune system to respond to novel antigens. Recently, diminished expression of the thymic epithelial cell (TEC)-specific transcription factor Forkhead box N1 (FOXN1) has been implicated as a component of the mechanism regulating age-related involution. The effects of upregulating FOXN1 function in the aged thymus are, however, unknown. Here, we show that forced, TEC-specific upregulation of FOXN1 in the fully involuted thymus of aged mice results in robust thymus regeneration characterized by increased thymopoiesis and increased naive T cell output. We demonstrate that the regenerated organ closely resembles the juvenile thymus in terms of architecture and gene expression profile, and further show that this FOXN1-mediated regeneration stems from an enlarged TEC compartment, rebuilt from progenitor TECs. Collectively, our data establish that upregulation of a single transcription factor can substantially reverse age-related thymic involution, identifying FOXN1 as a specific target for improving thymus function and, thus, immune competence in patients. More widely, they demonstrate that organ regeneration in an aged mammal can be directed by manipulation of a single transcription factor, providing a provocative paradigm that may be of broad impact for regenerative biology.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.