Mutually exclusive regulation of T cell survival by IL-7R and antigen receptor-induced signals

作者：Koenen Paul; Heinzel Susanne; Carrington Emma M; Happo Lina; Alexander Warren S; Zhang Jian Guo; Herold Marco J; Scott Clare L; Lew Andrew M; Strasser Andreas; Hodgkin Philip D^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2013, 4(1): 1735.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms2719

Two major processes govern T cell proliferation and survival: interleukin-7-mediated homeostasis and antigen-induced selection. How cells transit between the two states is unknown. Here we show that T cell receptor ligation actively inhibits homeostatic survival signals while initiating a new, dominant survival programme. This switch is mediated by a change in the expression of pro-and anti-apoptosis proteins through the downregulation of Bcl-2 and the induction of Bim, A1 and Bcl-xL. Calcineurin inhibitors prevent the initiation of the new survival programme, while permitting the dominant repression of Bcl-2. Thus, in the presence of these drugs the response to antigen receptor ligation is cell death. Our results identify a molecular switch that can serve as an attractive target for inducing antigen-specific tolerance in treating autoimmune disease patients and transplant recipients.

• 出版日期2013-4
• 单位河北医科大学