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Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses
The thymus is the main lymphoid organ that regulates the immune and endocrine systems by controlling thymic cell proliferation and differentiation. The gland is a primary lymphoid organ responsible for generating mature T cells into CD4+ or CD8+ single-positive (SP) T cells, contributing to cellular...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8539924/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34696231 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101119 |
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author | Al-Suhaimi, Ebtesam A. Aljafary, Meneerah A. Alkhulaifi, Fadwa M. Aldossary, Hanan A. Alshammari, Thamer AL-Qaaneh, Ayman Aldahhan, Razan Alkhalifah, Zahra Gaymalov, Zagit Z. Shehzad, Adeeb Homeida, Abdelgadir M. |
author_facet | Al-Suhaimi, Ebtesam A. Aljafary, Meneerah A. Alkhulaifi, Fadwa M. Aldossary, Hanan A. Alshammari, Thamer AL-Qaaneh, Ayman Aldahhan, Razan Alkhalifah, Zahra Gaymalov, Zagit Z. Shehzad, Adeeb Homeida, Abdelgadir M. |
author_sort | Al-Suhaimi, Ebtesam A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The thymus is the main lymphoid organ that regulates the immune and endocrine systems by controlling thymic cell proliferation and differentiation. The gland is a primary lymphoid organ responsible for generating mature T cells into CD4+ or CD8+ single-positive (SP) T cells, contributing to cellular immunity. Regarding humoral immunity, the thymic plasma cells almost exclusively secrete IgG1 and IgG3, the two main complement-fixing effector IgG subclasses. Deformity in the thymus can lead to inflammatory diseases. Hassall’s corpuscles’ epithelial lining produces thymic stromal lymphopoietin, which induces differentiation of CDs thymocytes into regulatory T cells within the thymus medulla. Thymic B lymphocytes produce immunoglobulins and immunoregulating hormones, including thymosin. Modulation in T cell and naive T cells decrement due to thymus deformity induce alteration in the secretion of various inflammatory factors, resulting in multiple diseases. Influenza virus activates thymic CD4+ CD8+ thymocytes and a large amount of IFNγ. IFNs limit virus spread, enhance macrophages’ phagocytosis, and promote the natural killer cell restriction activity against infected cells. Th2 lymphocytes-produced cytokine IL-4 can bind to antiviral INFγ, decreasing the cell susceptibility and downregulating viral receptors. COVID-19 epitopes (S, M, and N proteins) with ≥90% identity to the SARS-CoV sequence have been predicted. These epitopes trigger immunity for antibodies production. Boosting the immune system by improving thymus function can be a therapeutic strategy for preventing virus-related diseases. This review aims to summarize the endocrine-immunoregulatory functions of the thymus and the underlying mechanisms in the prevention of COVID-19. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8539924 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85399242021-10-24 Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses Al-Suhaimi, Ebtesam A. Aljafary, Meneerah A. Alkhulaifi, Fadwa M. Aldossary, Hanan A. Alshammari, Thamer AL-Qaaneh, Ayman Aldahhan, Razan Alkhalifah, Zahra Gaymalov, Zagit Z. Shehzad, Adeeb Homeida, Abdelgadir M. Vaccines (Basel) Review The thymus is the main lymphoid organ that regulates the immune and endocrine systems by controlling thymic cell proliferation and differentiation. The gland is a primary lymphoid organ responsible for generating mature T cells into CD4+ or CD8+ single-positive (SP) T cells, contributing to cellular immunity. Regarding humoral immunity, the thymic plasma cells almost exclusively secrete IgG1 and IgG3, the two main complement-fixing effector IgG subclasses. Deformity in the thymus can lead to inflammatory diseases. Hassall’s corpuscles’ epithelial lining produces thymic stromal lymphopoietin, which induces differentiation of CDs thymocytes into regulatory T cells within the thymus medulla. Thymic B lymphocytes produce immunoglobulins and immunoregulating hormones, including thymosin. Modulation in T cell and naive T cells decrement due to thymus deformity induce alteration in the secretion of various inflammatory factors, resulting in multiple diseases. Influenza virus activates thymic CD4+ CD8+ thymocytes and a large amount of IFNγ. IFNs limit virus spread, enhance macrophages’ phagocytosis, and promote the natural killer cell restriction activity against infected cells. Th2 lymphocytes-produced cytokine IL-4 can bind to antiviral INFγ, decreasing the cell susceptibility and downregulating viral receptors. COVID-19 epitopes (S, M, and N proteins) with ≥90% identity to the SARS-CoV sequence have been predicted. These epitopes trigger immunity for antibodies production. Boosting the immune system by improving thymus function can be a therapeutic strategy for preventing virus-related diseases. This review aims to summarize the endocrine-immunoregulatory functions of the thymus and the underlying mechanisms in the prevention of COVID-19. MDPI 2021-10-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8539924/ /pubmed/34696231 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101119 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Review Al-Suhaimi, Ebtesam A. Aljafary, Meneerah A. Alkhulaifi, Fadwa M. Aldossary, Hanan A. Alshammari, Thamer AL-Qaaneh, Ayman Aldahhan, Razan Alkhalifah, Zahra Gaymalov, Zagit Z. Shehzad, Adeeb Homeida, Abdelgadir M. Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses |
title | Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses |
title_full | Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses |
title_fullStr | Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses |
title_full_unstemmed | Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses |
title_short | Thymus Gland: A Double Edge Sword for Coronaviruses |
title_sort | thymus gland: a double edge sword for coronaviruses |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8539924/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34696231 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9101119 |
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