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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Immunol Rev. 2010 Nov;238(1):195–215. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065X.2010.00962.x

Fig. 3. Stages of NKT cell development.

Fig. 3

NKT cell development occurs in the thymus from a common precursor pool of CD4+CD8+ DP thymocytes. Thymocytes that express the canonical invariant TCR are selected following interaction with CD1d+ SLAMf receptor-expressing DP thymocytes and commit to the NKT cell lineage. After positive selection, immature iNKT cells undergo lineage expansion and acquire a memory phenotype and markers of the NK cell lineage. The intermediate stages of the differentiation are characterized by differences in expression of CD24, CD44 and NK1.1. Although most immature NKT cells emigrate from the thymus at Stage 2 and acquire NK1.1 expression in the periphery, a subset of Stage 2 cells acquire this marker in the thymus and remains as long-term residents.