The route of early T cell development: Crosstalk between epigenetic and transcription factors

Abstract

Hematopoietic multipotent progenitors seed the thymus and then follow consecutive developmental stages until the formation of mature T cells. During this process, phenotypic changes of T cells entail stage-specific transcriptional programs that underlie the dynamic progression to-wards mature lymphocytes. Lineage-specific transcription factors are key drivers of T cell specification and act in conjunction with epigenetic regulators that have also been elucidated as crucial play-ers in the establishment of regulatory networks necessary for proper T cell development. In this review, we summarize the activity of transcription factors and epigenetic regulators that together orchestrate the intricacies of early T cell development with a focus on regulation of T cell lineage commitment.