T cell development in the human thymus
Research type
Research Study
Full title
T cell development in the human thymus
IRAS ID
251472
Contact name
Muzlifah Haniffa
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle Joint Research Office
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
211276.Z.18.Z, Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award; 209222_Z_17_Z, Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Our immune system is finely orchestrated to recognise self and non-self protecting the body from attacking itself (auto-immunity) and infection. T cells are important in mediating recognition of self and infective agents. How T cells develop and mature is ill-understood in human. We are studying how T cells differentiate and mature before and after birth. We have successfully analysed pre-natal thymus and defined the development process of T cells and the role of the thymus microenvironment in facilitating this process. We now aim to investigate T cell development in post-natal thymus to evaluate the impact of external microenvironment and pathogen challenge in shaping T cell development.
T cell selection, differentiation and maturation occurs in the thymus before and after birth. Thymus is a glad behind the midline bone of the chest where T cells mature. The thymus involutes in late childhood.
The study aims to compare pre-natal T cell maturation with post-natal T cell maturation to identify the critical changes that occur upon birth and exposure to the external environment and pathogen challenge. The study will be embedded in routine clinical practice. Participants < 10 years of age undergoing cardiothoracic surgery for thymus removal, whose parents / guardians have given written informed consent, would be eligible for this study and could donate their discarded sample.
We will analyse neonatal and paediatric thymus which are normally discarded to gain access into the thoracic chest during neonatal/paediatric cardiothoracic surgery. We will analyse the discarded thymus using the same strategy we have successfully implemented for fetal thymus exploiting single cell RNA-sequencing.
This study will generate new knowledge, incorporate new technologies and construct a discovery and validation platform to study.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EM/0314
Date of REC Opinion
17 Oct 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion