Encyclopedia of Experiments: Immunology
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Transcript
To generate iPSC-derived thymic emigrants, iTEs from immature T cells in a 3D thymic organ culture system, take deoxyguanosine, dGUO-treated mouse fetal thymic lobes in suitable media.
dGUO enters the thymic environment and destroys endogenous thymic lymphocytes, preventing their interference with iPSC-derived immature T cells during co-culture.
Make a deep incision at the center of each thymic lobe. Transfer the lobes to a fresh culture dish containing medium supplemented with the growth factors stem cell factor, FLT3 ligand, and interleukin-7.
Pipette the thymic lobe-containing media into the wells of a 3D culture plate. Add iPSC-derived immature T cells. Incubate. The T cells migrate into the thymic lobes through the incision.
Within the thymic environment, the growth factors FLT3 ligand and IL-7 bind to their respective receptors on immature T cells leading to the activation of transcription factors and the expression of specific genes.
Consequently, the immature T cells undergo a series of changes and acquire specific characteristics, ultimately maturing into CD8αβ+ T cells which express CD8 molecules, T cell receptors, and MHC class I molecules on their surface.
Remove the immature T cells that have failed to migrate into the lobes.
The mature iTEs migrate out of the thymic lobes which can be visualized as a halo-like pattern surrounding the lobes under a light microscope.
