By age 75, the thymus is little more than fatty tissue. Fortunately, the thymus produces all of your T cells by the time you reach puberty. They are long-lived and that's why you can lose your thymus without impairment of your immune system.
sweetmedMemory T cells live for six months or less in healthy humans (Westera et al., 2013), whereas naive T cells can live for up to nine years +12019-06-02T23:10:57Z
whossayinso the bone marrow does not take the role of the thymus?+2019-06-23T09:11:28Z
dr_jan_itor@sweetmed, does that mean that if someone loses their thymus, they would develop imunodeficiencies appx 9 years later as the naive T cells have died off?+22019-07-30T13:27:44Z
hpsbwz@dr_jan_itor no, because once all of the thymocytes become T-lymphocytes, they are stored in lymphoid organs until they're needed. this is why removal of the thymus in MG does not cause any immune system deficiency.+12019-08-13T21:49:14Z
to snoo-finity ... and beyond!
submitted by hayayah(418), 2019-05-15T15:51:56Z
By age 75, the thymus is little more than fatty tissue. Fortunately, the thymus produces all of your T cells by the time you reach puberty. They are long-lived and that's why you can lose your thymus without impairment of your immune system.