While Many Cell Types in the Thymus Are Able to Induce

question 25

Multiple Choice

While many cell types in the thymus are able to induce negative selection of developing self-reactive thymocytes, bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells, appear to be the most important for this process. One likely reason for the prominent role of bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells in inducing negative selection of developing thymocytes is:

• A) Bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells are the most abundant stromal cells in the thymus.
• B) Bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells are very good at inducing mature T cell activation.
• C) Bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells are highly phagocytic and have specialized mechanisms for presenting peptides on both MHC class I and class II.
• D) Bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells are concentrated in the thymic medulla where negative selection is most prominent.
• E) Bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells are hematopoietic in origin, so share the same genetic make-up as the developing thymocytes.

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