{"id":112,"date":"2016-05-23T12:59:56","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T12:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/?page_id=112"},"modified":"2016-06-16T20:45:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T20:45:41","slug":"thymus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/research\/thymus\/","title":{"rendered":"Thymus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/05\/alex.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-96\" src=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/05\/alex-1024x767.jpg\" alt=\"alex\" width=\"646\" height=\"484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/05\/alex-1024x767.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/05\/alex-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/05\/alex.jpg 1388w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Research in the laboratory concentrates on elucidating the mechanisms that regulate T cell-mediated autoimmunity. We are using genetically engineered mice lacking a specific cell population in the thymus to disrupt the normal development of T cells and determine whether\/how this disruption results in the development of autoimmunity. T cells originate from bone marrow precursors that migrate to the thymus where they undergo a series of differentiation steps. Stromal thymic epithelial cells (TECs) regulate the survival and maturation of immature thymocytes through presentation of self-antigens on their surface. Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) in particular regulate the elimination of self-reactive T cells, a process called central tolerance. In addition, mTECs regulate the production of T regulatory (Treg) cells which suppress peripherally activated T cells (peripheral tolerance). Disruption of interactions between mTECs and T cells through mTEC depletion, leads to aberrant elimination of autoreactive T cells, defective central and peripheral tolerance and organ-specific autoimmunity, manifested as T cell-containing inflammatory infiltrates and autoantibody production. Our effort is currently focused on understanding how disruption of thymic cross-talk between the medullary epithelium and T cells affects antigen presentation and T cell selection in the thymus, as well as the type of autoimmune responses generated against the peripheral tissues of these mice.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-Normal.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-136\" src=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-Normal.jpg\" alt=\"Thymus Normal\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-Normal.jpg 960w, https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-Normal-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-abnormal.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-137\" src=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-abnormal.jpg\" alt=\"Thymus abnormal\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-abnormal.jpg 960w, https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/145\/2016\/06\/Thymus-abnormal-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research in the laboratory concentrates on elucidating the mechanisms that regulate T cell-mediated autoimmunity. We are using genetically engineered mice lacking a specific cell population in the thymus to disrupt the normal development of T cells and determine whether\/how this disruption results in the development of autoimmunity. T cells originate from bone marrow precursors that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"parent":10,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-112","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112\/revisions\/153"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.icahn.mssm.edu\/alexandropouloslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}