Endocrine Abstracts

During the development in the thymus, a virgin repertoire of diverse TCR-αβ recognition specificities in immature T cells is selected through positive and negative selection to form a functionally competent and self-tolerant repertoire of mature T cells. Positive selection supports the survival of self-MHC-restricted thymocytes that receive low-affinity TCR engagement, whereas negative selection deletes potentially harmful self-reactive thymocytes upon high-affinity ...