Barik S, Miller MM, Cattin-Roy AN, Ukah TK, Chen W, Zaghouani H. IL-4/IL-13 Signaling Inhibits the Potential of Early Thymic Progenitors To Commit to the T Cell Lineage.
THE JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY 2017;
199:2767-2776. [PMID:
28893952 DOI:
10.4049/jimmunol.1700498]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2017] [Accepted: 08/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Early thymic progenitors (ETPs) are endowed with diverse potencies and can give rise to myeloid and lymphoid lineage progenitors. How the thymic environment guides ETP commitment and maturation toward a specific lineage remains obscure. We have previously shown that ETPs expressing the heteroreceptor (HR) comprising IL-4Rα and IL-13Rα1 give rise to myeloid cells but not T cells. In this article, we show that signaling through the HR inhibits ETP maturation to the T cell lineage but enacts commitment toward the myeloid cells. Indeed, HR+ ETPs, but not HR- ETPs, exhibit activated STAT6 transcription factor, which parallels with downregulation of Notch1, a critical factor for T cell development. Meanwhile, the myeloid-specific transcription factor C/EBPα, usually under the control of Notch1, is upregulated. Furthermore, in vivo inhibition of STAT6 phosphorylation restores Notch1 expression in HR+ ETPs, which regain T lineage potential. In addition, upon stimulation with IL-4 or IL-13, HR- ETPs expressing virally transduced HR also exhibit STAT6 phosphorylation and downregulation of Notch1, leading to inhibition of lymphoid, but not myeloid, lineage potential. These observations indicate that environmental cytokines play a role in conditioning ETP lineage choice, which would impact T cell development.
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