Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ventevogel MS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3775968 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Ventevogel Melissa S MS Sempowski Gregory D GD
Current opinion in immunology 20130704 4
The thymus is a vital organ for homeostatic maintenance of the peripheral immune system. It is within this mediastinal tissue that T cells develop and are extensively educated and exported to the periphery for establishment of a functional and effective immune system. A striking paradoxical feature of this critical lymphoid tissue is that it undergoes profound age-associated involution. Thymic decline is of minimal consequence to healthy individuals, but the reduced efficacy of the immune system ...[more]