Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Kirchman, Paul A.

Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair

Chandrasekhar, Chitra

Abstract

T-lymphocytes develop from bone marrow derived hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and mature in the thymus, where they participate in reciprocal signaling with thymic stromal cells. The thymic developmental stages are well characterized, but only a few intrathymic signals that influence the development of T-lymphocytes have been identified. Previous microarray experiments revealed interleukin-17A (IL-17A) and its receptor (IL-17RA) as a possible stromal-lymphoid signal. In this study, an IL-17RA-/- knockout was used to determine whether the IL-17RA gene has a role in T-lymphocyte maturation. We made competitive bone marrow chimeras and analyzed the percentage of donor wildtype and mutant HSCs present in the bone marrow, and compared it to the percentage of a particular blood cell type that developed from these donor HSCs. We found that IL-17RA influences the maturation of T-lymphocytes, but does not affect the development of other immune cells such as B-lymphocytes, macrophages, and granulocytes.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Extent

44 p.

Identifier

FA00003578

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