Divergence of Vascular Specification in Visceral Lymphoid Organs—Genetic Determinants and Differentiation Checkpoints

Abstract

Despite their functional similarities, peripheral lymphoid tissues are remarkably different according to their developmental properties and structural characteristics, including their specified vasculature. Access of leukocytes to these organs critically depends on their interactions with the local endothelium, where endothelial cells are patterned to display a restricted set of adhesion molecules and other regulatory compounds necessary for extravasation. Recent advances in high throughput analyses of highly purified endothelial subsets in various lymphoid tissues as well as the expansion of various transgenic animal models have shed new light on the transcriptional complexities of lymphoid tissue vascular endothelium. This review is aimed at providing a comprehensive analysis linking the functional competence of spleen and intestinal lymphoid tissues with the developmental programming and functional divergence of their vascular specification, with particular emphasis on the transcriptional control of endothelial cells exerted by Nkx2.3 homeodomain transcription factor.

Keywords :

• Endothelium
• Nkx2.3
• patterning
• Peyer patches
• spleen

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Dr. Giovanna Roncador (Monoclonal Antibodies Core Unit, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, CNIO, Madrid, Spain) for the production and generous supply of mAb against human NKX2-3 protein. This work was supported by SROP-4.2.2/B-10/1-2010-0029 and CABCOS II (HUHR/1001/2.1.3/0007) project grant at the University of Pécs. Z. K is supported by the Apáczai Csere János Fellowship in the framework of SROP 4.2.4. A/1-11-1-2012-0001 “National Excellence Program.” P.B. is supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA K108429), and the research grant IBD-0341 from the Broad Medical Research Program of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

Declaration of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.