Fig. 1

Ag-specific interactions between mTECs and CD4⁺ T cells increase the thymic entry of circulating DCs and macrophages. a–c Flow cytometry profiles, frequencies and numbers of cDCs (CD11c^hiBST-2^lo), pDCs (CD11c^intBST-2^hi) (a), resident cDCs (CD8α^hiSHPS-1⁻), migratory cDCs (CD8α^loSHPS-1⁺) (b) and macrophages (F4/80⁺CD11b⁺) (c) in the thymus from OTII-Rag2^−/− and RipmOVAxOTII-Rag2^−/− mice. Data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 3 mice per group and per experiment). d Flow cytometry profiles and frequencies of proliferating Ki-67⁺ thymic DC subsets and macrophages. Data are representative of two independent experiments (n = 3 mice per group and per experiment). e Experimental setup: nucleated blood cells from CD45.1 WT congenic mice were adoptively transferred into sublethally irradiated CD45.2 OTII-Rag2^−/− and RipmOVAxOTII-Rag2^−/− recipients. Three days after i.v. adoptive transfer (AT), the thymic entry of DCs and macrophages of CD45.1 donor origin was analysed. SL-TBI: sublethal total body irradiation. f–h Flow cytometry profiles, frequencies and numbers of CD45.1 total donor cells (f) as well as cDCs, pDCs (g) and macrophages (h) of CD45.1 donor origin in the thymus from OTII-Rag2^−/− and RipmOVAxOTII-Rag2^−/− recipients. Control: non-injected irradiated OTII-Rag2^−/− mice. Data are representative of three independent experiments (n = 3–4 mice per group and per experiment). d, h MΦ: macrophage. Error bars show mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001 using unpaired Student’s t-test