scholarly journals Germline deletion reveals a non-essential role of the atypical MAPK6/ERK3

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Ronkina ◽  
K. Schuster-Gossler ◽  
F. Hansmann ◽  
H. Kunze-Schumacher ◽  
I. Sandrock ◽  
...  

AbstractMAPK6/ERK3 is an atypical member of the MAPKs. An essential role has been suggested by the perinatal lethal phenotype of ERK3 knockout mice carrying a lacZ insertion in exon 2 due to pulmonary disfunction and by defects in function, activation and positive selection of T cells. To study the role of ERK3 in vivo, we generated mice carrying a conditional Erk3 allele with exon3 flanked by LoxP sites. Loss of ERK3 protein was validated after deletion of Erk3 in the female germ line using zona pellucida 3 (Zp3)-cre and a clear reduction of the protein kinase MK5 is detected, providing first evidence for the existence of the ERK3/MK5 signaling complex in vivo. In contrast to the previously reported Erk3 knockout phenotype, these mice are viable and fertile, do not display pulmonary hypoplasia, acute respiratory failure, abnormal T cell development, reduction of thymocyte numbers or altered T cells selection. Hence, ERK3 is dispensable for pulmonary and T-cell functions. The perinatal lethality, lung and T-cell defects of the previous ERK3 knockout mice are likely due to ERK3-unrelated effects of the inserted lacZ-neomycin-resistance-cassette. The knockout mouse of the closely related atypical MAPK ERK4/MAPK4 is also normal suggesting redundant functions of both protein kinases.

2017 ◽  
Vol 214 (7) ◽  
pp. 1925-1935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Kozai ◽  
Yuki Kubo ◽  
Tomoya Katakai ◽  
Hiroyuki Kondo ◽  
Hiroshi Kiyonari ◽  
...  

The chemokine receptor CCR7 directs T cell relocation into and within lymphoid organs, including the migration of developing thymocytes into the thymic medulla. However, how three functional CCR7 ligands in mouse, CCL19, CCL21Ser, and CCL21Leu, divide their roles in immune organs is unclear. By producing mice specifically deficient in CCL21Ser, we show that CCL21Ser is essential for the accumulation of positively selected thymocytes in the thymic medulla. CCL21Ser-deficient mice were impaired in the medullary deletion of self-reactive thymocytes and developed autoimmune dacryoadenitis. T cell accumulation in the lymph nodes was also defective. These results indicate a nonredundant role of CCL21Ser in the establishment of self-tolerance in T cells in the thymic medulla, and reveal a functional inequality among CCR7 ligands in vivo.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Ronkina ◽  
K. Schuster-Gossler ◽  
F. Hansmann ◽  
H. Kunze-Schumacher ◽  
I. Sandrock ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Mitogen-activated protein kinase 6/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 3 (MAPK6/ERK3) is an atypical member of the MAPKs. An essential role has been suggested by the perinatal lethal phenotype of ERK3 knockout mice carrying a lacZ insertion in exon 2 due to pulmonary dysfunction and by defects in function, activation, and positive selection of T cells. To study the role of ERK3 in vivo, we generated mice carrying a conditional Erk3 allele with exon 3 flanked by loxP sites. Loss of ERK3 protein was validated after deletion of Erk3 in the female germ line using zona pellucida 3 (Zp3)-cre and a clear reduction of the protein kinase MK5 is detected, providing the first evidence for the existence of the ERK3/MK5 signaling complex in vivo. In contrast to the previously reported Erk3 knockout phenotype, these mice are viable and fertile and do not display pulmonary hypoplasia, acute respiratory failure, abnormal T-cell development, reduction of thymocyte numbers, or altered T-cell selection. Hence, ERK3 is dispensable for pulmonary and T-cell functions. The perinatal lethality and lung and T-cell defects of the previous ERK3 knockout mice are likely due to ERK3-unrelated effects of the inserted lacZ-neomycin resistance cassette. The knockout mouse of the closely related atypical MAPK ERK4/MAPK4 is also normal, suggesting redundant functions of both protein kinases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klara Klein ◽  
Agnieszka Witalisz-Siepracka ◽  
Dagmar Gotthardt ◽  
Benedikt Agerer ◽  
Felix Locker ◽  
...  

The cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) regulates the transition through the G1-phase of the cell cycle, but also acts as a transcriptional regulator. As such CDK6 regulates cell survival or cytokine secretion together with STATs, AP-1 or NF-κB. In the hematopoietic system, CDK6 regulates T cell development and promotes leukemia and lymphoma. CDK4/6 kinase inhibitors are FDA approved for treatment of breast cancer patients and have been reported to enhance T cell-mediated anti-tumor immunity. The involvement of CDK6 in T cell functions remains enigmatic. We here investigated the role of CDK6 in CD8+ T cells, using previously generated CDK6 knockout (Cdk6-/-) and kinase-dead mutant CDK6 (Cdk6K43M) knock-in mice. RNA-seq analysis indicated a role of CDK6 in T cell metabolism and interferon (IFN) signaling. To investigate whether these CDK6 functions are T cell-intrinsic, we generated a T cell-specific CDK6 knockout mouse model (Cdk6fl/fl CD4-Cre). T cell-intrinsic loss of CDK6 enhanced mitochondrial respiration in CD8+ T cells, but did not impact on cytotoxicity and production of the effector cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α by CD8+ T cells in vitro. Loss of CDK6 in peripheral T cells did not affect tumor surveillance of MC38 tumors in vivo. Similarly, while we observed an impaired induction of early responses to type I IFN in CDK6-deficient CD8+ T cells, we failed to observe any differences in the response to LCMV infection upon T cell-intrinsic loss of CDK6 in vivo. This apparent contradiction might at least partially be explained by the reduced expression of Socs1, a negative regulator of IFN signaling, in CDK6-deficient CD8+ T cells. Therefore, our data are in line with a dual role of CDK6 in IFN signaling; while CDK6 promotes early IFN responses, it is also involved in the induction of a negative feedback loop. These data assign CDK6 a role in the fine-tuning of cytokine responses.


2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 5170-5180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel-Rahman Youssef ◽  
Michiel van der Flier ◽  
Silvia Estevão ◽  
Nico G. Hartwig ◽  
Peter van der Ley ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT T cells may interact with a number of bacterial surface antigens, an encounter which has the potential to downmodulate host immune responses. Neisseria meningitidis, a human colonizer and an agent of septicemia and meningitis, expresses Opa proteins which interact with the CEACAM1 receptor expressed on activated T cells. Since CEACAM1 can act as an inhibitory receptor and T cells in subepithelial tissues may encounter whole bacteria, which often express Opa proteins in vivo, this study assessed primarily if Opa proteins expressed on meningococci affect T-cell functions. In addition, Opa-containing outer membrane vesicles (OMV) have been used as vaccine antigens, and therefore Opa+ and Opa− OMV were also studied. While Opa+ bacteria adhered to CEACAM-expressing T cells, both the Opa+ and Opa− phenotypes induced no to a small transient depression, followed by a prolonged increase in proliferation as well as cytokine production. Such responses were also observed with heat-killed bacteria or OMV. In addition, while anti-CEACAM antibodies alone inhibited proliferation, on coincubation of T cells with bacteria and the antibodies, bacterial effects predominated and were Opa independent. Thus, while Opa proteins of N. meningitidis can bind to T-cell-expressed CEACAM1, this is not sufficient to overcome the T-cell recognition of bacterial factors, which results in a proliferative and cytokine response, an observation consistent with the ability of the host to establish lasting immunity to Opa-expressing meningococci that it frequently encounters. The data also imply that Opa-proficient vaccine preparations may not necessarily inhibit T-cell functions via CEACAM1 binding.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 6118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianna Szczypka

Phosphodiesterase 7 (PDE7), a cAMP-specific PDE family, insensitive to rolipram, is present in many immune cells, including T lymphocytes. Two genes of PDE7 have been identified: PDE7A and PDE7B with three or four splice variants, respectively. Both PDE7A and PDE7B are expressed in T cells, and the predominant splice variant in these cells is PDE7A1. PDE7 is one of several PDE families that terminates biological functions of cAMP—a major regulating intracellular factor. However, the precise role of PDE7 in T cell activation and function is still ambiguous. Some authors reported its crucial role in T cell activation, while according to other studies PDE7 activity was not pivotal to T cells. Several studies showed that inhibition of PDE7 by its selective or dual PDE4/7 inhibitors suppresses T cell activity, and consequently T-mediated immune response. Taken together, it seems quite likely that simultaneous inhibition of PDE4 and PDE7 by dual PDE4/7 inhibitors or a combination of selective PDE4 and PDE7 remains the most interesting therapeutic target for the treatment of some immune-related disorders, such as autoimmune diseases, or selected respiratory diseases. An interesting direction of future studies could also be using a combination of selective PDE7 and PDE3 inhibitors.


Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 1132-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ou Cao ◽  
Eric Dobrzynski ◽  
Lixin Wang ◽  
Sushrusha Nayak ◽  
Bethany Mingle ◽  
...  

Abstract Gene replacement therapy is complicated by the risk of an immune response against the therapeutic transgene product, which in part is determined by the route of vector administration. Our previous studies demonstrated induction of immune tolerance to coagulation factor IX (FIX) by hepatic adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene transfer. Using a regulatory T-cell (Treg)–deficient model (Rag-2−/− mice transgenic for ovalbumin-specific T-cell receptor DO11.10), we provide first definitive evidence for induction of transgene product-specific CD4+CD25+ Tregs by in vivo gene transfer. Hepatic gene transfer–induced Tregs express FoxP3, GITR, and CTLA4, and suppress CD4+CD25− T cells. Tregs are detected as early as 2 weeks after gene transfer, and increase in frequency in thymus and secondary lymphoid organs during the following 2 months. Similarly, adoptive lymphocyte transfers from mice tolerized to human FIX by hepatic AAV gene transfer indicate induction of CD4+CD25+GITR+ that suppresses antibody formation to FIX. Moreover, in vivo depletion of CD4+CD25+ Tregs leads to antibody formation to the FIX transgene product after hepatic gene transfer, which strongly suggests that these regulatory cells are required for tolerance induction. Our study reveals a crucial role of CD4+CD25+ Tregs in preventing immune responses to the transgene product in gene transfer.


eLife ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone A Nish ◽  
Dominik Schenten ◽  
F Thomas Wunderlich ◽  
Scott D Pope ◽  
Yan Gao ◽  
...  

Innate immune recognition is critical for the induction of adaptive immune responses; however the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this study, we demonstrate that T cell-specific deletion of the IL-6 receptor α chain (IL-6Rα) results in impaired Th1 and Th17 T cell responses in vivo, and a defect in Tfh function. Depletion of Tregs in these mice rescued the Th1 but not the Th17 response. Our data suggest that IL-6 signaling in effector T cells is required to overcome Treg-mediated suppression in vivo. We show that IL-6 cooperates with IL-1β to block the suppressive effect of Tregs on CD4+ T cells, at least in part by controlling their responsiveness to IL-2. In addition, although IL-6Rα-deficient T cells mount normal primary Th1 responses in the absence of Tregs, they fail to mature into functional memory cells, demonstrating a key role for IL-6 in CD4+ T cell memory formation.


1988 ◽  
Vol 168 (5) ◽  
pp. 1741-1747 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Tentori ◽  
D L Longo ◽  
J C Zuñiga-Pflucker ◽  
C Wing ◽  
A M Kruisbeek

The role of the IL-2-IL-2-R pathway in thymocyte differentiation in vivo is unknown. We have examined fetal thymocyte development in vivo, under conditions where all IL-2-R were saturated from day 13 of gestation with anti-IL-2-R mAbs that were previously shown to render mature T cells unable to respond to IL-2. This produced a dramatic change in the composition of developing T cells: thymocytes from day 1 neonatal mice born to anti-IL-2-R-treated mothers did not contain CD4+ or CD8+ single-positive cell populations. In addition, no generation of surface TCR beta chain-expressing T cells or antigen-reactive functional T cells occurred in treated mice. These data suggest that IL-2-IL-2-R interactions provide signals crucial to in vivo intrathymic development of mature T cells.


2001 ◽  
Vol 356 (1406) ◽  
pp. 177-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Weissmann ◽  
Alex J. Raeber ◽  
Fabio Montrasio ◽  
Ivan Hegyi ◽  
Rico Frigg ◽  
...  

Following intracerebral or peripheral inoculation of mice with scrapie prions, infectivity accumulates first in the spleen and only later in the brain. In the spleen of scrapie–infected mice, prions were found in association with T and B lymphocytes and to a somewhat lesser degree with the stroma, which contains the follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) but not with non–B, non–T cells; strikingly, no infectivity was found in lymphocytes from blood of the same mice. Transgenic PrP knockout mice expressing PrP restricted to either B or T lymphocytes show no prion replication in the lymphoreticular system. Therefore, splenic lymphocytes either acquire prions from another source or replicate them in dependency on other PrP–expressing cells. The essential role of FDCs in prion replication in spleen was shown by treating mice with soluble lymphotoxin–β receptor, which led to disappearance of mature FDCs from the spleen and concomitantly abolished splenic prion accumulation and retarded neuroinvasion following intraperitoneal scrapie inoculation.


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