The role of cytokine receptor signaling in lymphocyte development

Cytokine receptor signaling plays an essential role in the early stag es of lymphocyte development. Signals through various cytokine receptors - such as c-kit, flt3/flk2, CXCR4, the IL-7 receptor and the IL-15 receptor - are known to promote the expansion and survival of uncommitted progenitor cells as well as their migration to the appropriate microenvironment and subsequent differentiation into B, T or natural killer cells, The reef nt generation of mice deficient in one or more of these signaling pathways has revealed which cytokines play unique and, or redundant roles in each of these lymphocyte lineages during this developmental process.