{"id":70866,"date":"2026-07-17T13:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/mtecs-and-b-cells-form-a-thymic-microniche-associated-with-b-cell-licensing\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:14:03","slug":"mtecs-and-b-cells-form-a-thymic-microniche-associated-with-b-cell-licensing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/mtecs-and-b-cells-form-a-thymic-microniche-associated-with-b-cell-licensing\/","title":{"rendered":"mTECs and B cells form a thymic microniche associated with B-cell licensing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>J Immunol<\/b>. 2026 Jul 10;215(7):vkag185. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag185.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Thymic B cells rely on T cells and type-III IFN (IFN-\u03bb) signaling for class switch recombination and effective licensing as APCs, a process essential for their role in establishing central T-cell tolerance. IFN-\u03bb is produced exclusively by a subset of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs); however, the spatial layout between B cells and IFN-\u03bb-producing mTECs remain unclear. Here, we studied the distribution of thymic B cells and IFN-\u03bb+ mTECs, alongside other mTEC populations, to better understand the niche required for thymic B-cell licensing. Using 26 target multiplex immunofluorescence imaging of the thymus, we identified populations of na\u00efve B cells, licensed B cells, plasmacytoid dendritic cells, plasma cells, mTECs, and mimetic mTECs within the thymus. Spatial analysis revealed licensed B cells closely interacted with both IFN-\u03bb+ mTEC and GP2+ microfold mTECs, with transcriptional analysis predicting CCL20-CCR6-mediated B-cell interactions with microfold and IFN-\u03bb+ mTECs. However, studies in CCR6-deficient mice showed CCR6-CCL20 interaction was not required for B-cell licensing. To further investigate the role of GP2+ microfold mTECs in B-cell licensing, we studied the NOD\/ShiLtJ mouse model, which we confirmed to have a natural reduction in microfold mTECs. Interestingly, the thymic B cells in NOD mice demonstrated reduced licensing, which was attributed to reductions in IFN-\u03bb receptor expression on thymic B cells. These data indicate that microfold mTECs modulate the capacity of thymic B cells to undergo IFN-\u03bb-induced licensing.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/42464563\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=2985117R&amp;ff=20260717071402&amp;v=2.20.0\">42464563<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag185\">10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag185<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J Immunol. 2026 Jul 10;215(7):vkag185. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag185. ABSTRACT Thymic B cells rely on T cells and type-III IFN (IFN-\u03bb) signaling for class switch recombination and effective licensing as APCs, a process essential for their role in establishing central T-cell tolerance. IFN-\u03bb is produced exclusively by a subset of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs); however, the &#8230; <a title=\"mTECs and B cells form a thymic microniche associated with B-cell licensing\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/07\/17\/mtecs-and-b-cells-form-a-thymic-microniche-associated-with-b-cell-licensing\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about mTECs and B cells form a thymic microniche associated with B-cell licensing\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publicaciones","category-the-journal-of-immunology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}