The origin of the thymic epithelium, i.e. the cortical (cTEC) and medullary (mTEC) epithelial cells, from bipotent stem cells through TEC progenitors and lineage-specific progeny still remains poorly understood. We sought to obtain an unbiased view of the incipient emergence of TEC subsets by following embryonic TEC development based on co-expression of EpCAM, CD80 and MHC class II (MHCII) on non-hematopoietic (CD45(-) ) thymic stromal cells in wild-type BL6 mice. Using a combination of ex vivo analysis, Re-aggregate Thymic Organ Culture (RTOC) reconstitution assays and mathematical modelling, we traced emergent lineage commitment in murine embryonic TECs. Both experimental and mathematical datasets supported the following developmental sequence: MHCII(-) CD80(-) → MHCII(lo) CD80(-) → MHCII(hi) CD80(-) → MHCII(hi) CD80(hi) TECs, whereby MHCII(hi) CD80(-) and MHCII(hi) CD80(hi) TECs bear features of cTECs and mTECs respectively. These emergent MHCII(hi) CD80(-) cTECs directly generate mature MHCII(hi) CD80(hi) mTECs in vivo and in vitro, thus supporting the asynchronous model of TEC lineage commitment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 December 2025.
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#8,203,257
of 24,578,676 outputs
Outputs from European Journal of Immunology
#2,556
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Outputs of similar age
#122,408
of 318,169 outputs
Outputs of similar age from European Journal of Immunology
#13
of 41 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,578,676 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,814 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.2. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 41 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its contemporaries.
