thymic selection
T-cell quality control
Thymic selection is the process by which developing T cells in the thymus are tested for their ability to recognize the body's own tissues.
Cells that react too strongly to self are eliminated (negative selection), while those that can recognize foreign invaders without attacking the body survive (positive selection).
This winnowing ensures the immune system can distinguish self from non-self: Defects in thymic selection can lead to autoimmune diseases.
- self-toleranceAccepting your own imperfections
- autoimmune diseasesDisorders where immunity misfires
- apoptosisProgrammed cell death
- immunodeficiencyWeakened disease-fighting capacity
- medullaInnermost organ tissue
repertoire · thymoma · autoimmunity · cortex · cytokines · naive · education · death · lymphocytes · CD4 · T cells · maturation · immune · receptor · survival · antigen · differentiation · macrophages
- immunologyimmune system, immune response, antibodies, antigens, immunity
- T cellsT cell, CD4, killer T cell, regulatory T cells, killer T cells
- Thymusthymic, thymoma, sweetbread
- immunityimmune, immunity, immune system, immune response, immune cells
- Immunotoxicologyantibodies, antigens, autoantibodies, autoimmunity, T cells