Journal
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY
Volume 21, Issue 4, Pages 388-+Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41590-020-0622-8
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Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [156875, 175569]
- NCCR `RNA Disease'
- Swiss MS Society
- Ceresio Foundation
- Vontobel Stiftung
- Kurt und Senta Herrmann Stiftung
- Marie Heim-Vogtlin postdoctoral fellowship [164489]
- Italian Ministry of Health
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Understanding the mechanisms that modulate helper T lymphocyte functions is crucial to decipher normal and pathogenic immune responses in humans. To identify molecular determinants influencing the pathogenicity of T cells, we separated ex vivo-isolated primary human memory T lymphocytes on the basis of their ability to produce high levels of inflammatory cytokines. We found that the inflammatory, cytokine-producing phenotype of memory T lymphocytes was defined by a specific core gene signature and was mechanistically regulated by the constitutive activation of the NF-kappa B pathway and by the expression of the transcriptional repressor BHLHE40. BHLHE40 attenuated the expression of anti-inflammatory factors, including miR-146a, a negative regulator of NF-kappa B activation and ZC3H12D, an RNase of the Regnase-1 family able to degrade inflammatory transcripts. Our data reveal a molecular network regulating the proinflammatory phenotype of human memory T lymphocytes, with the potential to contribute to disease. Monticelli and colleagues analyze primary human CD4(+) T cells to interrogate gene expression regulatory pathways that distinguish GM-CSF+ pathogenic programs from noninflammatory programs. They identify the transcriptional repressor BHLHE40 as an enforcer of proinflammatory gene expression by suppressing the NF-kappa B inhibitor miR-146a and the RNase ZC3H12D.
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