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Redefinition of lymphoid progenitors

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 2, pages 127–132 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Similarities between T and B lymphocytes might have led to the idea that these functionally distinct cells develop from a common lymphoid progenitor. However, investigations with a new clonal assay which allows for T-, B- and myeloid-lineage development indicate that commitment to T-cell and B-cell lineages occurs instead through myeloid/T and myeloid/B bipotential stages, respectively. These findings provide an opportunity to reconsider the ontogeny and phylogeny of T- and B-cell development.

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Figure 1: The principles and procedure of the MLP assay.
Figure 2: Examples of flow-cytometric profiles of cells generated from single progenitors in the MLP assay.
Figure 3: Models of lineage commitment in haematopoiesis.

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Acknowledgements

I thank H. Kawamoto for valuable discussion and W. T. V. Germeraad for critical reading of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Immunology, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan

    Yoshimoto Katsura

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  1. Yoshimoto Katsura
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DATABASES

LocusLink

FLK2

FLT3

Ikaros

IL-3

IL-7

IL-7R

Notch1

Pax5

PU.1

SCF

SDF-1

OMIM

SCID

Glossary

PRIMITIVE HAEMATOPOIESIS

The transient production of large, nucleated erythrocytes that express embryonic haemoglobin, which takes place in the yolk sac. Primitive megakaryocytopoiesis is also reported, but no other types of blood cells have ever been reported to be generated in primitive haematopoiesis.

DEFINITIVE HAEMATOPOIESIS

Haematopoiesis from pluripotent HSCs, where all types of blood cells are produced. HSCs are known to emerge first in the aorta–gonad–mesonephros region, whereas the main sites of definitive haematopoiesis in fetuses and adults are the liver and bone marrow, respectively.

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Katsura, Y. Redefinition of lymphoid progenitors. Nat Rev Immunol 2, 127–132 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri721

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