Protocols for high efficiency, stage-specific retroviral transduction of murine fetal thymocytes and thymic epithelial cells

Disassembling and Reaggregating the Thymus: The Pros and Cons of Current Assays

This review briefly describes the last decades of experimental work on the thymus. Given the histological complexity of this organ, the multiple embryological origins of its cellular components and its role in carefully regulating T lymphocyte maturation and function, methods to dissect and understand this complexity have been developed through the years. The possibility to study ex vivo the thymus organ function has been achieved by developing Fetal Thymus Organ Cultures (FTOC). Subsequently, the combination of organ disaggregation and reaggregation in vitro represented by Reaggregate Thymus Organ cultures (RTOC) allowed mixing cellular components from different genetic backgrounds. Moreover, RTOC allowed dissecting the different stromal and hematological components to study the interactions between Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules and the T-cell receptors during thymocytes selection. In more recent years, prospective isolation of stromal cells and thymocytes at different stages of development made it possible to explore and elucidate the molecular and cellular players in both the developing and adult thymus. Finally, the appearance of novel cell sources such as embryonic stem (ES) cells and more recently induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has opened new scenarios in modelling thymus development and regeneration strategies. Most of the work described was carried out in rodents and the current challenge is to develop equivalent or even more informative assays and tools in entirely human model systems.

Thymic CD4 T cell selection requires attenuation of March8-mediated MHCII turnover in cortical epithelial cells through CD83

Deficiency of CD83 in thymic epithelial cells (TECs) dramatically impairs thymic CD4 T cell selection. CD83 can exert cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic functions through discrete protein domains, but it remains unclear how CD83's capacity to operate through these alternative functional modules relates to its crucial role in TECs. In this study, using viral reconstitution of gene function in TECs, we found that CD83's transmembrane domain is necessary and sufficient for thymic CD4 T cell selection. Moreover, a ubiquitination-resistant MHCII variant restored CD4 T cell selection in Cd83(-/-) mice. Although during dendritic cell maturation CD83 is known to stabilize MHCII through opposing the ubiquitin ligase March1, regulation of March1 did not account for CD83's TEC-intrinsic role. Instead, we provide evidence that MHCII in cortical TECs (cTECs) is targeted by March8, an E3 ligase of as yet unknown physiological substrate specificity. Ablating March8 in Cd83(-/-) mice restored CD4 T cell development. Our results identify CD83-mediated MHCII stabilization through antagonism of March8 as a novel functional adaptation of cTECs for T cell selection. Furthermore, these findings suggest an intriguing division of labor between March1 and March8 in controlling inducible versus constitutive MHCII expression in hematopoietic antigen-presenting cells versus TECs.

Reconstituted Thymus Organ Culture

Reconstituted thymus organ culture is based on fetal thymus organ culture (FTOC). Purified thymocyte populations, from genetically modified mice or even from other species, are cultured in vitro with thymic lobes depleted of their endogenous thymocytes (by 2'-deoxyguanosine treatment) to form a new thymus. This potent and timesaving method is distinct from FTOC, which assesses development of unmodified thymic lobes, and reaggregate thymic organ culture, in which epithelial cells are separately purified before being aggregated with thymocytes.

FTOC-Based Analysis of Negative Selection

Potentially harmful T cell precursors are removed from the conventional T cell pool by negative selection. This process can involve the induction of apoptosis, anergy, receptor editing or deviation into a regulatory T cell lineage. As such this process is essential for the health of an organism through its contribution to central and peripheral tolerance. While a great deal is known about the process, the precise mechanisms that regulate negative selection are not clear. Furthermore, the signals that distinguish the different forms of negative selection are not fully understood. Numerous models exist with the potential to address these questions in vitro and in vivo. This chapter describes methods of fetal thymic organ culture designed to analyze the signals that determine these unique cell fates.

Apaf-1- and Caspase-8-independent apoptosis

Two major apoptosis pathways, the mitochondrial and death receptor pathways, are well recognized. Here we established cell lines from the fetal thymus of Apaf-1-, Caspase-9-, or Bax/Bak-deficient mice. These cell lines were resistant to apoptosis induced by DNA-damaging agents, RNA or protein synthesis inhibitors, or stress in the endoplasmic reticulum. However, they underwent efficient apoptosis when treated with kinase inhibitors such as staurosporine and H-89, indicating that these inhibitors induce a caspase-dependent apoptosis that is different from the mitochondrial pathway. CrmA, a Caspase-8 inhibitor, did not prevent staurosporine-induced apoptosis of fetal thymic cell lines, suggesting that the death receptor pathway was also not involved in this process. The staurosporine-induced cell death was inhibited by okadaic acid, a serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitor, suggesting that dephosphorylation of a proapoptotic molecule triggered the death process, or that phosphorylation of an antiapoptotic molecule could block the process. Cells of various types (fetal thymocytes, bone marrows, thymocytes, and splenocytes), but not embryonic fibroblasts, were sensitive to the noncanonical staurosporine-induced apoptosis, suggesting that the noncanonical apoptosis pathway is tissue specific.

Skint-1 identifies a common molecular mechanism for the development of interferon-γ-secreting versus interleukin-17-secreting γδ T cells

Murine T cell development begins with the generation of a unique Vγ5(+)Vδ1(+) epidermal γδ T cell compartment and a unique, more broadly distributed Vγ6(+)Vδ1(+) subset that is an important source of interleukin-17 (IL-17). This study showed that these respective functional programs were determined by Skint-1, a thymic epithelial cell determinant. By engaging Skint-1(+) cells, Vγ5(+)Vδ1(+) thymocytes induced an Egr3-mediated pathway, provoking differentiation and the potential to produce IFN-γ while suppressing the γδ T cell lineage factor, Sox13, and a RORγt transcription factor-associated IL-17-producing capacity. Hence, the functions of the earliest T cells are substantially preprogrammed in the thymus. Additionally, the phenotype of Skint-1-selected fetal thymocytes permitted identification in the adult thymus of an analogous gene regulatory network regulated by the γδ T cell receptor. Hence, these observations describe a molecular pathway by which distinct stress-responsive lymphocyte repertoires may emerge throughout ontogeny and offer parallels with emerging perspectives on the functional selection of other lymphoid cells.

Imaging synapse formation during thymocyte selection: inability of CD3zeta to form a stable central accumulation during negative selection

TCR signaling can result in cell fates ranging from activation to tolerance to apoptosis. Organization of molecules in an "immunological synapse" between mature T cells and APCs correlates with the strength of TCR signaling. To investigate synapse formation during thymic selection, we have established a reaggregate system in which molecular recruitment of GFP fusion proteins to thymocyte:stromal cell interfaces can be visualized in real time. We demonstrate that negative selection is associated with efficient conjugate formation and rapid recruitment of p56(lck) and CD3zeta to an immunological synapse. Interestingly, CD3zeta-GFP does not accumulate at the center of the synapse, as in mature T cells, but at the periphery across a wide range of ligand densities. This implicates differences in synapse geometry in initiation of alternate signals downstream of the TCR.

Notch ligand-bearing thymic epithelial cells initiate and sustain Notch signaling in thymocytes independently of T cell receptor signaling

Thymic epithelial cells are specialized to play essential roles at multiple stages of T cell development in the thymus, yet the molecular basis of this specialization is largely unknown. Recently, the Notch family of transmembrane proteins has been implicated in thymocyte development. Such proteins interact with cell surface proteins of the Delta-like and Jagged families. It is known that Notch ligands are expressed intrathymically, and that Notch signaling is regulated by Notch ligands expressed on either the same or third-party cells. However, functional analysis of Notch ligand expression, and elucidation of the mechanism of Notch ligand signaling in thymocyte development, are unclear. Here, we find that Notch ligand expression in the thymus is compartmentalized, with MHC class II(+) thymic epithelium, but not thymocytes nor dendritic cells, expressing Jagged-1, Jagged-2 and Delta-like-1. We also provide evidence that contact with Notch ligands on thymic epithelium is necessary to activate and sustain Notch signaling in thymocytes, and that this can occur independently of positive selection induction. Our data suggest that Notch ligand expression by thymic epithelium may partly explain the specialization of these cells in supporting thymocyte development, by regulating Notch activation via an inductive signaling mechanism independently of signaling leading to positive selection.

Lymphostromal interactions in thymic development and function

The generation of a peripheral T-cell pool is essential for normal immune system function. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are produced most efficiently in the thymus, which provides a complexity of discrete cellular microenvironments. Specialized stromal cells, that make up such microenvironments, influence each stage in the maturation programme of immature T-cell precursors. Progress has recently been made in elucidating events that regulate the development of intrathymic microenvironments, as well as mechanisms of thymocyte differentiation. It is becoming increasingly clear that the generation and maintenance of thymic environments that are capable of supporting efficient T-cell development, requires complex interplay between lymphoid and stromal compartments of the thymus.