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Science 21 March 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5614, pp. 1859 - 1863
DOI: 10.1126/science.1067833
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Review

Signaling Life and Death in the Thymus: Timing Is Everything

Guy Werlen,* Barbara Hausmann, Dieter Naeher, Ed Palmer*

T lymphocytes are generated in the thymus, where developing thymocytes must accept one of two fates: They either differentiate or they die. These fates are chiefly determined by signals that originate from the T cell receptor (TCR), a single receptor complex with a remarkable capacity to decide between distinct cell fates. This review explores TCR signaling in thymocytes and focuses on the kinetic aspects of ligand binding, coreceptor involvement, protein phosphorylation, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. Understanding the logic of TCR signaling may eventually explain how thymocytes and T cells distinguish self from nonself, a phenomenon that has fascinated immunologists for 50 years.

Laboratory of Transplantation Immunology and Nephrology, Department of Research, University Hospital-Basel, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: guy.werlen{at}unibas.ch (G.W.), ed.palmer{at}unibas.ch (E.P.)

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Function of thymus; An immune kaleidoscope?
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Science Online, 6 Jun 2003 [Full text]

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