Tuft cells and fibroblasts promote thymus regeneration through activation of a type-2 immune response [TEC_after_rAREG_inj]

The goal of this study was to determine how thymic epithelial cells (TEC) differentiation and gene expression is affected by amphiregulin (AREG), which is produced by ILC2 upon thymic involution and the receptor for which is expressed by early TEC subsets. For this purpose we treated WT mice with recombinant AREG, sorted TEC from their thymi 10 days after treatment when the thymus is recovering and AREG has been released, and performed bulk RNA-Seq. Young male WT mice were injected intrathymically with rAREG 10 days before sacrifice, and then TEC were isolated and mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing using the MARSseq method. 4-5 replicates were used. The control was vehicle (PBS) treated age-matched WT mice.