TY - JOUR TI - A model of preferential pairing between epithelial and dendritic cells in thymic antigen transfer AU - Vobořil, Matouš AU - Březina, Jiří AU - Brabec, Tomáš AU - Dobeš, Jan AU - Ballek, Ondřej AU - Dobešová, Martina AU - Manning, Jasper AU - Blumberg, Richard S AU - Filipp, Dominik A2 - Zúñiga-Pflücker, Juan Carlos A2 - Taniguchi, Tadatsugu A2 - Zúñiga-Pflücker, Juan Carlos VL - 11 PY - 2022 DA - 2022/01/31 SP - e71578 C1 - eLife 2022;11:e71578 DO - 10.7554/eLife.71578 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71578 AB - Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs), which produce and present self-antigens, are essential for the establishment of central tolerance. Since mTEC numbers are limited, their function is complemented by thymic dendritic cells (DCs), which transfer mTEC-produced self-antigens via cooperative antigen transfer (CAT). While CAT is required for effective T cell selection, many aspects remain enigmatic. Given the recently described heterogeneity of mTECs and DCs, it is unclear whether the antigen acquisition from a particular TEC subset is mediated by preferential pairing with a specific subset of DCs. Using several relevant Cre-based mouse models that control for the expression of fluorescent proteins, we have found that, in regards to CAT, each subset of thymic DCs preferentially targets a distinct mTEC subset(s). Importantly, XCR1+-activated DC subset represented the most potent subset in CAT. Interestingly, thymic DCs can also acquire antigens from more than one mTEC, and of these, monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) were determined to be the most efficient. moDCs also represented the most potent DC subset in the acquisition of antigen from other DCs. These findings suggest a preferential pairing model for the distribution of mTEC-derived antigens among distinct populations of thymic DCs. KW - thymus KW - central tolerance KW - thymic epithelial cells KW - dendritic cells KW - cooperative antigen transfer JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -