Most organs are a one-hit wonder. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, right???
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Take the thymus. It trains infection-fighting T cells, but as we age, it shrinks, weakening our immune system. Could the thymus make a comeback?
Enter Anna Czarkwiani and team from the University of Dresden in Germany.
They turned to axolotl salamanders, which regrow limbs, hearts, even brain tissue! But could they regrow a complex immune organ?
When researchers removed their thymus, axolotls reconstructed it in weeks! They also made fully trained T cells! The key? A growth signal called midkine, that recruits neighboring cells to kickstart regeneration.
So bring on the Thymus reunions! They can play on PBS!
Reference: Anna Czarkwiani et al. ,Molecular basis for de novo thymus regeneration in a vertebrate, the axolotl.Sci. Immunol.10,eadw9903(2025).DOI:10.1126/sciimmunol.adw9903