Human Th17 cells engage gasdermin E pores to release IL-1alpha upon NLRP3 inflammasome activation
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ABSTRACT: Adaptive immune responses are tailored to the invading microbial antigen and tissue microenvironment, resulting in diverse context-specific inflammatory signatures. There is emerging evidence that innate immune responses coopt adaptive properties such as memory. Whether T cells harness innate immune signaling pathways to diversify their repertoire of effector functions remains unknown. Here, we found that human T cells expressed gasdermin E (GSDME), a membrane pore-forming molecule that has recently been shown to execute pyroptotic cell death and thus to serve as a potential cancer checkpoint. In T cells, GSDME expression was, in contrast, associated with durable viability and was repurposed for the tunneled release of the innate danger signal IL-1. This property was restricted to a subset of human Th17 cells with antigen specificity for C. albicans and was regulated by a T-cell-intrinsic NLRP3 inflammasome and its engagement of a proteolytic cascade of successive caspase-8, caspase-3 and GSDME cleavage following T-cell receptor stimulation and calcium-licensed calpain maturation of the pro-IL1 form. This equipped human Th17 cells with a so far overlooked effector function that contributes to the clearance of C. albicans. Our results propose GSDME pore formation in T cells as a mechanism of unconventional cytokine release through harnessing of innate signaling platforms in response to adaptive stimuli. This finding diversifies the functional repertoire and mechanistic equipment of T cells and thus suggests new therapeutic strategies for targeting the proinflammatory identity of human Th17 cells in anti-fungal host defense.
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE214292 | GEO | 2022/10/24
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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