text_1: The RANK-RANK-Ligand (RANKL) pathway is involved in the development of Aire-expressing medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs).
text_2: Here we showed that emergence of the first cohorts of Aire(+) mTECs at this key developmental stage, prior to αβ T cell repertoire selection, was jointly directed by Rankl(+) lymphoid tissue inducer cells and invariant Vγ5(+) dendritic epidermal T cell (DETC) progenitors that are the first thymocytes to express the products of gene rearrangement.