A Rogue Foxp3 Mutant Undermines Treg Cell Function

Hayatsu et al. (2017) reveal that a FOXP3 mutant found in some patients afflicted with the autoimmune disease IPEX has broadened DNA-recognition specificity, directly repressing the expression of the gene encoding the transcription factor Batf. Their findings identify Batf as critical to tissue regulatory T cell function and suggest that polymorphisms that impact FOXP3 DNA-binding specificity may contribute susceptibility to autoimmune disease.