ArticleNature cell biology2014
An organized and functional thymus generated from FOXN1-reprogrammed fibroblasts.
Article in Nature cell biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05655000 (A First-in-Humans Supermicrosurgical Technique for the Neonatal Thymus Transplantation), which is not on this map. Cited by 98 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A First-in-Humans Supermicrosurgical Technique for the Neonatal Thymus Transplantation
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 175 citations in OpenAlex.
- Modeling Immunity In Vitro: Slices, Chips, and Engineered Tissues.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2021Pooled it
- Cell and tissue engineering in lymph nodes for cancer immunotherapy.Advanced drug delivery reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Immunosenescence and cancer predisposition in pediatric transplant recipients: An emerging paradigm.World journal of transplantation · 2026Review
- RNA-binding proteins Zfp36l1 and Zfp36l2 protect against premature thymic involution.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Article
- Combinatory differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells generates functional thymic epithelium driving dendritic cell and CD4/CD8 T cell development.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Thymic regeneration and tumor immunotherapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Informed clinical decisions by outfoxing human FOXN1 variants.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2025Review
- Targeting immunosenescence and inflammaging: advancing longevity research.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Immunosenescence: signaling pathways, diseases and therapeutic targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Review
- It's Time to Unite: Diversity and Coordination of Thymic Stromal Cells for T Cell Selection and Organ Integrity.Immunological reviews · 2025Review
- Organoids in Haematologic Research: Advances and Future Directions.Cell proliferation · 2025Review
- Endogenous thymic regeneration: restoring T cell production following injury.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025Review
- The Cellular and Molecular Characteristics of Postnatal Human Thymus Stromal Stem Cells.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Termination sequence between an inducible promoter and ubiquitous chromatin opening element (UCOE) reduces gene expression leakage and silencing.Journal of biological engineering · 2025Article
- Transplantation of the MSLN-deficient Thymus Generates MSLN Epitope Reactive T Cells to Attenuate Tumor Progression.Cancer science · 2025Article
- Progress of immune senescence in multiple myeloma treatment resistance.Discover oncology · 2025Review
- The Ins and Outs of Thymic Epithelial Cell Differentiation and Function.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- Thymus Ontogeny and Development.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- Thymic epithelial organoids mediate T-cell development.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- Mechanisms underlying the direct programming of mouse embryonic fibroblasts to thymic epithelial cells by FOXN1.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
A central goal of regenerative medicine is to generate transplantable organs from cells derived or expanded in vitro. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the production of defined cell types in vitro, the creation of a fully intact organ has not been reported. The transcription factor forkhead box N1 (FOXN1) is critically required for development of thymic epithelial cells (TECs), a key cell type of the thymic stroma. Here, we show that enforced Foxn1 expression is sufficient to reprogramme fibroblasts into functional TECs, an unrelated cell type across a germ-layer boundary. These FOXN1-induced TECs (iTECs) supported efficient development of both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in vitro. On transplantation, iTECs established a complete, fully organized and functional thymus, that contained all of the TEC subtypes required to support T-cell differentiation and populated the recipient immune system with T cells. iTECs thus demonstrate that cellular reprogramming approaches can be used to generate an entire organ, and open the possibility of widespread use of thymus transplantation to boost immune function in patients.
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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.