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Protein THEMIS

Protein THEMIS is a protein that in humans is encoded by the THEMIS gene.[1][2][3]

Function

Function

This protein plays a regulatory role in both positive and negative T cell selection during late thymocyte development. The protein functions through T-cell antigen receptor signaling, and is necessary for proper lineage commitment and maturation of T-cells.[4]

The name

The name

THEMIS is an acronym for thymocyte-expressed-molecule. Themis is also the name of a Titan in Greek mythology who weighed the fates of humans, an apt choice since the protein is important in deciding the fate of the T cell during development.[5]

References

References

  1. Fu G, Vallée S, Rybakin V, McGuire MV, Ampudia J, Brockmeyer C, Salek M, Fallen PR, Hoerter JA, Munshi A, Huang YH, Hu J, Fox HS, Sauer K, Acuto O, Gascoigne NR (August 2009). “Themis controls thymocyte selection through regulation of T cell antigen receptor-mediated signaling”. Nat. Immunol. 10 (8): 848–56. doi:10.1038/ni.1766. PMC 2757056. PMID 19597499.
  2. Lesourne R, Uehara S, Lee J, Song KD, Li L, Pinkhasov J, Zhang Y, Weng NP, Wildt KF, Wang L, Bosselut R, Love PE (August 2009). “Themis, a T cell-specific protein important for late thymocyte development”. Nat. Immunol. 10 (8): 840–7. doi:10.1038/ni.1768. PMC 2848698. PMID 19597498.
  3. Johnson AL, Aravind L, Shulzhenko N, Morgun A, Choi SY, Crockford TL, Lambe T, Domaschenz H, Kucharska EM, Zheng L, Vinuesa CG, Lenardo MJ, Goodnow CC, Cornall RJ, Schwartz RH (August 2009). “Themis is a member of a new metazoan gene family and is required for the completion of thymocyte positive selection”. Nat. Immunol. 10 (8): 831–9. doi:10.1038/ni.1769. PMC 2908989. PMID 19597497.
  4. “Entrez Gene: thymocyte selection associated”.
  5. Zielinska E (2009-11-01). “Six degrees of science”. The Scientist.
Further reading

Further reading

This article incorporates text from the United States National Library of Medicine, which is in the public domain.


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