Figure 3. Immune response in the thymus.
Schematic representation of microbial dissemination and recruitment of an immune response to the thymus. Under normal conditions, mature T cells and DC circulate from peripheral lymphoid organs to the thymus (left panel). Following infection, pathogens disseminate from the periphery to the thymus, either extracellularly or within re-circulating cells. The infected thymus produces chemokines, such as CXCL9 and CXCL10, which recruit CXCR3-expressing antigen-specific T cells from the peripheral tissues back to the thymus to fight infection (right panel). LN – lymph node.