Project description: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 show that human T cells can express gasdermin E (GSDME), a membrane pore forming molecule, which 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 tunnelled release of the calpain-matured innate danger signal IL-1a. This property was restricted to a subset of human Th17 cells and regulated by the NLRP3 inflammasome and its engagement of a proteolytic cascade of successive caspase-8, caspase-3 and GSDME cleavage following T cell receptor stimulation. Autocrine IL-1a signaling enforced a pro-inflammatory Th17 cell fate through continuous IL-10 suppression and showed an association of this T cell subset with the autoinflammatory Schnitzler syndrome. 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 diversifies the functional repertoire and mechanistic equipment of T cells and thus provides new therapeutic strategies for targeting the proinflammatory identity of human Th17 cells in various diseases.
Project description:The early stages of human Th17 Cell differentiation were studied using label free proteomics to compare Th17 polarized CD4+ human T cells at 24 h and 72 h with activated cells (72 and 24 h) and Thp cells.
Project description:Interleukin 17 (IL-17) producing T helper 17 (Th17) cells are critical drivers of pathogenesis in a variety of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Strategies to mitigate excessive Th17 response thus remain an attractive target for immunotherapies. Here we report that Cancerous Inhibitor of Protein Phosphatase 2A (CIP2A) regulates IL-17 production by Th17 cells in human and mouse. Using CIP2A knock-out (KO) mice and siRNA-mediated CIP2A silencing in human primary CD4+ T cells, we demonstrated that CIP2A silencing results in a significant increase in IL-17 production. Interestingly, CIP2A deficient Th17 cells were characterized by increased strength and duration of STAT3 (Y705) phosphorylation. Genome-wide gene expression profile as well as the p-STAT3 (Y705) interactome of CIP2A deficient Th17 cells identified that CIP2A regulates the strength of the interaction between Acylglycerol kinase (AGK) and STAT3, and thereby, modulates STAT3 phosphorylation as well as expression of IL-17 in Th17 cells. Our results uncover the physiological function of CIP2A in Th17 cells and provides new opportunities for therapeutic intervention in Th17 cell mediated diseases.
Project description:The study aims at identifying transcriptional changes induced by in vitro polarization of human cord blood CD4+ cells towards Th17 subtype with combination of IL6, IL1b and TGFb by using timeseries data. In this study, we identified gene expression changes characterizing early stages of human Th17 cell differentiation program through genome-wide gene expression profiling. Primary T helper cells isolated from umbilical cord blood were used to construct detailed kinetic patterns of gene expression after initiation of Th17 differentiation with IL1b, IL6 and TGFb. The dataset described provides the starting point for defining the gene regulatory networks and identifying new candidates regulating the Th17 differentiation in human. Altogether 57 samples were analyzed representing 3 biological replicates of timeseries data (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours) of Th17 polarized cells and control Th0 cells
Project description:The study aims at identifying transcriptional changes induced by in vitro polarization of human cord blood CD4+ cells towards Th17 subtype with combination of IL6, IL1b and TGFb by using timeseries data. In this study, we identified gene expression changes characterizing early stages of human Th17 cell differentiation program through genome-wide gene expression profiling. Primary T helper cells isolated from umbilical cord blood were used to construct detailed kinetic patterns of gene expression after initiation of Th17 differentiation with IL1b, IL6 and TGFb. The dataset described provides the starting point for defining the gene regulatory networks and identifying new candidates regulating the Th17 differentiation in human.
Project description:Human IL-10– and IL-10+ TH17 clones maintained their pro- or anti-inflammatory characteristics after long-term culture. There were similarities between human IL-10– vs. IL-10+ TH17 clones and mouse pathogenic vs. non-pathogenic TH17 cells.
Project description:The differentiation of Th17 cells is controlled by a complex network of transcription factors (TFs), including FOS and JUN proteins of the AP-1 family. The FOS-like proteins, FOSL1 and FOSL2 have recently been reported to control Th17 responses. The molecular mechanisms dictating their roles, however, are unclear. Moreover, although the functions of AP-1 TFs are largely governed by their protein-protein interactions, these are also poorly characterized in this milieu. Using affinity purification in combination with mass-spectrometry we established the first interactomes of FOSL1 and FOSL2 in human Th17 cells. In addition to their known interactions with JUN proteins, our analysis identified several novel binding partners of FOSL factors. Gene ontology analysis revealed RNA binding was enriched as the major functionality for FOSL1 and FOSL2 associated proteins, thereby suggesting possible mechanistic links that have not been studied before. Intriguingly, 29 interactors were found to be shared between FOSL1 and FOSL2, which included crucial regulators of Th17-fate. These findings, including unique and shared interactions, were validated using parallel reaction monitoring targeted mass-spectrometry (PRM-MS), with additional measurements with other laboratory methods. Overall, this study provides key insights into interaction-based signalling mechanisms of FOSL1 and FOSL2, which potentially control Th17 cell-development and associated pathologies.