2025年 新着論文 57 免疫系発生学分野から論文が発表されました

Ccl21a, Rather Than Ccl21b, is Essential for Thymocyte Migration in Mouse

Eur J Immunol. 2025 Dec;55(12):e70114. doi: 10.1002/eji.70114.

Authors

Izumi Ohigashi  1   2 Hitomi Kyuma  1 Eri Otsu  1 Shinichi Hayashi  3   4 Tatsuya Takemoto  3 Yousuke Takahama  5

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan.
  • 2 Laboratory of Developmental Immunology, Institute of Photonics and Human Health Frontier, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan.
  • 3 Laboratory For Embryology, Institute of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan.
  • 4 Faculty of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan.
  • 5 Thymus Biology Section, Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Abstract

Self-tolerance in T cells is a vital self-defense strategy for mammals to specifically respond to invading pathogens. During T cell development in the thymus, thymocytes migrate from the cortex to the medulla to sequentially acquire non-self-reactivity and self-tolerance. This cortex-to-medulla migration is regulated by CCR7-mediated chemokine signaling. Previous studies have identified CCL21 but not CCL19 as a functional ligand for this CCR7-dependent migration. CCL21 in the mouse is encoded by multiple genes, including CCL21Ser-encoding Ccl21a and several CCL21Leu-encoding genes, including Ccl21b. The importance of Ccl21a in thymocyte migration has been demonstrated, whereas the role of CCL21Leu-encoding genes remains unclear. By producing mice specifically deficient in Ccl21b, we show that Ccl21b plays little to no role in the cortex-to-medulla migration of developing thymocytes. CCL21Leu-encoding gene transcripts remain detectable even in the absence of Ccl21b, suggesting that Ccl21b is not a major source of CCL21Leu. We further show that the copy number of CCL21Leu-encoding genes is smaller than the currently estimated copy number in a public database. These findings underscore the predominant role of Ccl21a over Ccl21b in the mouse thymus.

Keywords: CCL21; gene duplication; medullary thymic epithelial cell; thymus.