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NR4A family members regulate T cell tolerance to preserve immune homeostasis and suppress autoimmunity

The NR4A family of orphan nuclear receptors (Nr4a1–3) plays redundant roles to establish and maintain Treg identity; deletion of multiple family members in the thymus results in Treg deficiency and a severe inflammatory disease. Consequently, it has been challenging to unmask redundant functions of...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hiwa, Ryosuke, Nielsen, Hailyn V., Mueller, James L., Mandla, Ravi, Zikherman, Julie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Clinical Investigation 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8492309/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34343134
http://dx.doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.151005
Descripción
Sumario:The NR4A family of orphan nuclear receptors (Nr4a1–3) plays redundant roles to establish and maintain Treg identity; deletion of multiple family members in the thymus results in Treg deficiency and a severe inflammatory disease. Consequently, it has been challenging to unmask redundant functions of the NR4A family in other immune cells. Here we use a competitive bone marrow chimera strategy, coupled with conditional genetic tools, to rescue Treg homeostasis and unmask such functions. Unexpectedly, chimeras harboring Nr4a1(–/–) Nr4a3(–/–) (double-knockout, DKO) bone marrow developed autoantibodies and a systemic inflammatory disease despite a replete Treg compartment of largely WT origin. This disease differs qualitatively from that seen with Treg deficiency and is B cell extrinsic. Negative selection of DKO thymocytes is profoundly impaired in a cell-intrinsic manner. Consistent with escape of self-reactive T cells into the periphery, DKO T cells with functional, phenotypic, and transcriptional features of anergy accumulated in chimeric mice. Nevertheless, we observed upregulation of genes encoding inflammatory mediators in anergic DKO T cells, and DKO T cells exhibited enhanced capacity for IL-2 production. These studies reveal cell-intrinsic roles for the NR4A family in both central and peripheral T cell tolerance and demonstrate that each is essential to preserve immune homeostasis.