Tuft cells and fibroblasts promote thymus regeneration through activation of a type-2 immune response [ILC2_after_Dex]

The goal of this study was to understand the role of thymic innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) in thymic regeneration following dexamethasone-induced acute involution, and determine whether this is activated by the alarmins IL-25 and IL-33. For this purpose we treated WT, Il25 KO or Il33 mice with dexamethasone, sorted ILC2 cells from their thymi 3 days after treatment when the thymus begins its recovery, or at an earlier time point (18 hours) for comparison, and performed bulk RNA-Seq. Overall design: Young male WT, Il25 KO or Il33 KO mice were treated with dexamethasone, 3 days/18 hours before sacrifice, and then ILC2 were isolated and mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing using the MARSseq method. 3-5 replicates were used. For treated WT mice, the control was untreated age-matched WT mice, and for Il25 and Il33 KO treated mice, the control was treated WT age-matched mice.