美国国立卫生研究院Jinfang Zhu、Difeng Fang等研究人员合作发现，自然杀伤（NK）细胞发育和T辅助1（Th1）细胞分化过程中转录因子T-bet诱导差异性调节。2022年4月12日，国际知名学术期刊《免疫》发表了这一成果。

Author: Difeng Fang, Kairong Cui, Yaqiang Cao, Mingzhu Zheng, Takeshi Kawabe, Gangqing Hu, Jaspal S. Khillan, Dan Li, Chao Zhong, Dragana Jankovic, Alan Sher, Keji Zhao, Jinfang Zhu

Issue&Volume: 2022/04/12

Abstract: Adaptive CD4+ T helper cells and their innate counterparts, innate lymphoid cells, utilize an identicalset of transcription factors (TFs) for their differentiation and functions. However,similarities and differences in the induction of these TFs in related lymphocytesare still elusive. Here, we show that T helper-1 (Th1) cells and natural killer (NK)cells displayed distinct epigenomes at the Tbx21 locus, which encodes T-bet, a critical TF for regulating type 1 immune responses.The initial induction of T-bet in NK precursors was dependent on the NK-specific DNaseI hypersensitive site Tbx21-CNS-3, and the expression of the interleukin-18 (IL-18) receptor; IL-18 induced T-bet expressionthrough the transcription factor RUNX3, which bound to Tbx21-CNS-3. By contrast, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-binding motifswithin Tbx21-CNS-12 were critical for IL-12-induced T-bet expression during Th1 cell differentiationboth in vitro and in vivo. Thus, type 1 innate and adaptive lymphocytes utilize distinct enhancer elementsfor their development and differentiation.

DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2022.03.005

Source: https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(22)00128-5