Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33868260›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in immunology2021

Post-Aire Medullary Thymic Epithelial Cells and Hassall's Corpuscles as Inducers of Tonic Pro-Inflammatory Microenvironment.

Martti Laan, Ahto Salumets, Annabel Klein, Kerli Reintamm, Rudolf Bichele, Hedi Peterson, Pärt Peterson

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Sterile production of interferons in the thymus.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2025
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Learning the Autoimmune Pathogenesis Through the Study of Aire.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. A spatial human thymus cell atlas mapped to a continuous tissue axis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023
    Article
  9. The role of interferon in the thymus.Current opinion in immunology · 2023
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Short histological kaleidoscope - recent findings in histology. Part II.Romanian journal of morphology and embryology = Revue roumaine de morphologie et embryologie
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Martti LaanMolecular Pathology Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Ahto SalumetsMolecular Pathology Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Annabel KleinMolecular Pathology Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Kerli ReintammMolecular Pathology Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Rudolf BicheleMolecular Pathology Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Hedi PetersonInstitute of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Pärt PetersonMolecular Pathology Research Group, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
University of Tartu · EE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While there is convincing evidence on the role of Aire-positive medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC) in the induction of central tolerance, the nature and function of post-Aire mTECs and Hassall's corpuscles have remained enigmatic. Here we summarize the existing data on these late stages of mTEC differentiation with special focus on their potential to contribute to central tolerance induction by triggering the unique pro-inflammatory microenvironment in the thymus. In order to complement the existing evidence that has been obtained from mouse models, we performed proteomic analysis on microdissected samples from human thymic medullary areas at different differentiation stages. The analysis confirms that at the post-Aire stages, the mTECs lose their nuclei but maintain machinery required for translation and exocytosis and also upregulate proteins specific to keratinocyte differentiation and cornification. In addition, at the late stages of differentiation, the human mTECs display a distinct pro-inflammatory signature, including upregulation of the potent endogenous TLR4 agonist S100A8/S100A9. Collectively, the study suggests a novel mechanism by which the post-Aire mTECs and Hassall's corpuscles contribute to the thymic microenvironment with potential cues on the induction of central tolerance.

Indexed as

Cell DifferentiationCellular MicroenvironmentCentral ToleranceAIRE ProteinAnimalsCalgranulin ACalgranulin BChild, PreschoolEpithelial CellsHumansInfantInflammation MediatorsMiceProteomeProteomicsThymus GlandAIRE ProteinCalgranulin ACalgranulin BInflammation MediatorsProteomeS100A8 protein, humanS100A9 protein, humanTLR4 protein, humanToll-Like Receptor 4Transcription FactorsAIREcentral toleranceHassall’s corpusclesmedullary thymic epithelial cellsS100A8S100A9thymusTLR4 – Toll-like receptor 4

Identifiers

PMID33868260
PMCPMC8050345
OpenAlexW3149437757

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.