Expression and regulation of lincRNAs during T cell development and differentiation

Although lincRNAs are implicated in gene regulation in various tissues, little is known about lincRNA transcriptomes in the T cell lineages. Here we identify 1,524 lincRNA clusters in 42 T cell samples from early T cell progenitors to terminally differentiated T helper (T(H)) subsets. Our analysis revealed highly dynamic and cell-specific expression patterns of lincRNAs during T cell differentiation. Importantly, these lincRNAs are located in genomic regions enriched for protein-coding genes with immune-regulatory functions. Many of them are bound and regulated by the key T cell transcription factors T-bet, GATA-3, STAT4 and STAT6. We demonstrate that the lincRNA LincR-Ccr2-5′AS, together with GATA-3, is an essential component of a regulatory circuit in T(H)2-specific gene expression and important for T(H)2 cell migration.