Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Journal Club
  • Published:

T cell–B cell collaboration

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 17, page 532 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

The field of T cell immunology began in 1961 with a landmark paper by Jacques Miller demonstrating the effects of neonatal thymectomy (NTx) in mice, which included a marked paucity of lymphocytes, signs of infection (hepatitis) and, remarkably, failure to reject allogeneic and even xenogeneic (rat) skin grafts. These findings evoked intense interest and were soon extended by several other groups. However, it was a 1968 paper from Miller's group that first showed that the thymus is a direct source of T helper cells for antibody production.

Although the early studies of NTx proved that the thymus controls cellular immunity, it remained possible that, rather than arising in the thymus per se, immunocompetent cells were generated elsewhere by 'hormones' released from the thymus. As a medical student, I heard Miller lecture in the mid-1960s and was so fascinated by the idea that the thymus might function as an endocrine organ that I later turned up in Miller's laboratory asking to do a Ph.D. on thymic hormones.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Mitchell, G. F. & Miller, J. F. Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. II. The source of hemolysin-forming cells in irradiated mice given bone marrow and thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes. J. Exp. Med. 128, 821–837 (1968)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Garvan Institute, Sydney, 2010, New South Wales, Australia

    Jonathan Sprent

Authors
  1. Jonathan Sprent
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan Sprent.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Related links

Related links

Web links

Miller, J. F. Immunological function of the thymus. Lancet 2, 748–749 (1961)

Claman, H. N., Chaperon, E. A. & Triplett, R. F. Thymus–marrow cell combinations. Synergism in antibody production. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 122, 1167–1171 (1966)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sprent, J. T cell–B cell collaboration. Nat Rev Immunol 17, 532 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2017.62

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2017.62

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing