Identification of a super-functional Tfh-like subpopulation in murine lupus by pattern perception
- German Rheumatism Research Center (DRFZ), Germany
- University of Potsdam, Germany
Abstract
Dysregulated cytokine expression by T cells plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. However, the identification of the corresponding pathogenic subpopulations is a challenge, since a distinction between physiological variation and a new quality in the expression of protein markers requires combinatorial evaluation. Here, we were able to identify a super-functional follicular helper T cell (Tfh)-like subpopulation in lupus-prone NZBxW mice with our binning approach "pattern recognition of immune cells (PRI)". PRI uncovered a subpopulation of IL-21+ IFN-ghigh PD-1low CD40Lhigh CXCR5- Bcl-6- T cells specifically expanded in diseased mice. In addition, these cells express high levels of TNF-a and IL-2, and provide B cell help for IgG production in an IL-21 and CD40L dependent manner. This super-functional T cell subset might be a superior driver of autoimmune processes due to a polyfunctional and high cytokine expression combined with Tfh-like properties.
Data availability
Flow cytometry data have been deposited in FlowRepository under the accession code FR-FCM-Z2C8. All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figure 1D, Figure 2A,B,D,E and figure supplement 1B; figure supplement 2B,E; figure supplement 3D, Figure 3C; figure supplement 1A-C, Figure 5A-D, Figure 6B,C and figure supplement 1A, Figure 7B+C
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (0316164A)
- Ria Baumgrass
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: Animal experiments were approved by the local ethics committee LaGeSo (Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales) Berlin under animal experiment licenses T0187-01 and G0070/13.
Copyright
© 2020, Gryzik et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Identification of a super-functional Tfh-like subpopulation in murine lupus by pattern perception
eLife 9:e53226.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.53226
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