Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) paralog dose governs T cell effector and regulatory functions
- National Institutes of Health, United States
Abstract
The transcription factor STAT5 is fundamental to the mammalian immune system. However, the relationship between its two paralogs, STAT5A and STAT5B, and the extent to which they are functionally distinct, remains uncertain. Using mouse models of paralog deficiency, we demonstrate that they are not equivalent for CD4+ 'helper' T cells, the principal orchestrators of adaptive immunity. Instead, we find that STAT5B is dominant in both effector and regulatory (Treg) responses and, therefore, uniquely necessary for immunological tolerance. Comparative analysis of genomic distribution and transcriptomic output reveals that STAT5B has greater transcriptional output but, surprisingly, our data point towards asymmetric expression (i.e. paralog dose), rather than distinct functional properties, as the key distinguishing feature. Thus, we propose a quantitative model of STAT5 paralog activity whereby relative abundance imposes functional specificity (or dominance) in the face of widespread structural homology.
Article and author information
Author details
Reviewing Editor
- Christopher K Glass, University of California, San Diego, United States
Ethics
Animal experimentation: Animals were handled in accordance with NIH guidelines and all experiments approved by the NIAMS Animal Care and Use Committee (Animal Study Number: A013-10-07).
Version history
- Received: April 28, 2015
- Accepted: March 18, 2016
- Accepted Manuscript published: March 19, 2016 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: May 4, 2016 (version 2)
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) paralog dose governs T cell effector and regulatory functions
eLife 5:e08384.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.08384
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