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The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ, essential for T cell maturation and selection. There has been long-standing interest in processes underpinning thymus generation and the potential to manipulate it clinically, because alterations of thymus development or function can result in severe immunodeficiency and autoimmunity. Here, we identify epithelial-mesenchymal hybrid cells, capable of long-term expansion in vitro, and able to reconstitute an anatomic phenocopy of the native thymus, when combined with thymic interstitial cells and a natural decellularised extracellular matrix (ECM) obtained by whole thymus perfusion. This anatomical human thymus reconstruction is functional, as judged by its capacity to support mature T cell development in vivo after transplantation into humanised immunodeficient mice. These findings establish a basis for dissecting the cellular and molecular crosstalk between stroma, ECM and thymocytes, and offer practical prospects for treating congenital and acquired immunological diseases., The thymus is essential for T cell maturation and selection, and thymic defects result in severe immune problems. Here the authors identify a thymus cell population that is expandable in vitro, and can repopulate natural thymic matrix to generate tissue that supports mature T cell development in vitro and in vivo.

International audience; Prdm1 mutant mice are one of the rare mutant strains that do not develop whisker hair follicles while still displaying a pelage. Here, we show that Prdm1 is expressed at the earliest stage of whisker development in clusters of mesenchymal cells before placode formation. Its conditional knockout in the murine soma leads to the loss of expression of Bmp2, Shh, Bmp4, Krt17, Edar, and Gli1, though leaving the β-catenin-driven first dermal signal intact. Furthermore, we show that Prdm1 expressing cells not only act as a signaling center but also as a multipotent progenitor population contributing to the several lineages of the adult whisker. We confirm by genetic ablation experiments that the absence of macro vibrissae reverberates on the organization of nerve wiring in the mystacial pads and leads to the reorganization of the barrel cortex. We demonstrate that Lef1 acts upstream of Prdm1 and identify a primate-specific deletion of a Lef1 enhancer named Leaf. This loss may have been significant in the evolutionary process, leading to the progressive defunctionalization and disappearance of vibrissae in primates.