ArticleCell2022
Thymic epithelial cells co-opt lineage-defining transcription factors to eliminate autoreactive T cells.
Article in Cell, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 143 papers.
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Who cites it
143 citing papers in PubMed.
- Aire and Fezf2 Shape the Medullary Thymic Epithelial Cell Immunopeptidome for Central Tolerance.Immunology · 2026Review
- Thymic APC Networks Orchestrate T-Cell Selection: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Opportunities in Immune Disorders.Immunology · 2026Review
- Review
- Article
- Article
- Rag1-based time-stamp tracing of T-cell developmental origins.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2026Article
- Thymic alveolar type 2 epithelial mimetic cells revealed by RUNX1 deficiency.Nature immunology · 2026Article
- Breaking the upper limit of mTEC heterogeneity.Nature immunology · 2026Article
- Foxp1 controls Fezf2-dependent gene expression, mimetic mTEC diversity, and thymic central tolerance.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2026Article
- Runx3 instructs AireJournal of autoimmunity · 2026Article
- From Development to Aging: Dynamic Roles of the Thymic Medulla in T Cell Biology.Immunological reviews · 2026Review
- Article
- Multimerizing transcription factors FOXP3 and AIRE as chromatin architectural regulators.Nature immunology · 2026Review
- Molecular heterogeneity and differential metabolic signatures in thymic adipocytes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- KLF2 controls thymic epithelial cell homeostasis, impacting regulatory T cell development and immune tolerance.iScience · 2026Article
- Morphometric analysis of the thymic epithelial cell network using integrated and orthogonal digital pathology approaches.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Neonatal Thymic Dynamics Influence Autoimmune Pathology by Shaping the Suppressive Potential of Regulatory T Cells.The American journal of pathology · 2026Article
- Spatial cartography of human thymus enables the geopositioning of lineage transcription factors in rare mimetic thymic epithelial cells.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Claudin 1-mediated positioning of DC1 to mTECs is essential for maintenance of central tolerance.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2026Article
- The Thymus Regeneration Paradox: The Search for Stemness in an Involuting Organ.Immunological reviews · 2026Review
83 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) ectopically express thousands of peripheral-tissue antigens (PTAs), which drive deletion or phenotypic diversion of self-reactive immature T cells during thymic differentiation. Failure of PTA expression causes multiorgan autoimmunity. By assaying chromatin accessibility in individual mTECs, we uncovered signatures of lineage-defining transcription factors (TFs) for skin, lung, liver, and intestinal cells-including Grhl, FoxA, FoxJ1, Hnf4, Sox8, and SpiB-in distinct mTEC subtypes. Transcriptomic and histologic analyses showed that these subtypes, which we collectively term mimetic cells, expressed PTAs in a biologically logical fashion, mirroring extra-thymic cell types while maintaining mTEC identity. Lineage-defining TFs bound to mimetic-cell open chromatin regions and were required for mimetic cell accumulation, whereas the tolerogenic factor Aire was partially and variably required. Expression of a model antigen in mimetic cells sufficed to induce cognate T cell tolerance. Thus, mTECs co-opt lineage-defining TFs to drive mimetic cell accumulation, PTA expression, and self-tolerance.
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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.