Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42625375›Full record

ArticleAging cell2026

The Thymic Microenvironment Shapes Age-Related Qualitative Changes in the TCR Repertoire.

Jasmine Rowell, Diana C Yanez, Susan Ross, Ching-In Lau, Eden Zhang, Amir Monfared, Oscar A Peña, Benny Chain, Tessa Crompton

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Aging cell, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Jasmine RowellUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-8528
Diana C YanezUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Susan RossUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Ching-In LauUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Eden ZhangUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0073-5938
Amir MonfaredUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Oscar A PeñaSchool of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2582-0238
Benny ChainDivision of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7417-3970
Tessa CromptonUCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8973-4021

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council 1903458Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/T020970/1Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/Y003454/1Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/Y010175/1Medical Research Council MR/S037764/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Ageing impairs immune function, increasing susceptibility to infection, autoimmunity and inflammation. The thymus undergoes involution during childhood, and thymocyte and thymic epithelial cell (TEC) numbers decline. Given that adaptive immunity depends on T-cells recognising diverse antigens via their unique T-cell receptor (TCR), the precise age-related changes in TCR repertoire composition are key to understand immunity. To investigate the influence of age on the thymic TCR repertoire we sequenced TCRα and TCRβ transcripts from developmentally defined thymocyte populations from 4-week, 12-month and 18-month-old mice, and from thymocytes recovering from hydrocortisone-treatment, and athymic recipients of RAG1-deficient thymus transplants. The 18-month thymus selected TCR repertoires with distinctive patterns of VxJ and CDR3 k-mer usage compared to young thymus, indicating it had a qualitatively different repertoire with different specificity. It also selected a less diverse TCRβ repertoire with more expanded clones than young thymus. On recovery from hydrocortisone-treatment, both 4-week and 12-month thymus showed bias towards foetal-like 3'TRAVx5'TRAJ rearrangements, but 12-month thymus also produced less diverse and evenly distributed TCRβ repertoires, with increased expansion of TCRβ clones at the CD4

Indexed as

AgingCellular MicroenvironmentReceptors, Antigen, T-CellReceptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-betaThymus GlandAnimalsHomeodomain ProteinsMiceMice, Inbred C57BLThymocytesHomeodomain ProteinsRAG-1 proteinReceptors, Antigen, T-CellReceptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta

Identifiers

PMID42625375
PMCPMC13494363

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Registered trials

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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.