Thymocyte

An immature T-cell in the thymus. The sequential thymocyte stages can be defined by their location in the thymus (e.g. cortical thymocyte, medullary thymocyte). The stages can also be divided immunophenotypically into CD4/CD8 double negative, CD4/CD8 double positive, and single positive CD4 or CD8. T-cell receptor (TCR) genes rearrangement takes place in the thymus in these thymocytes as they mature into functional CD4+ or CD8+ T-cells.