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Borelli A, Zamit C, Irla M. Medullary Thymic Epithelial Cell Antigen-presentation Assays. Bio Protoc 2023; 13:e4865. [PMID: 37969750 PMCID: PMC10632154 DOI: 10.21769/bioprotoc.4865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC) are bona fide antigen-presenting cells that play a crucial role in the induction of T-cell tolerance. By their unique ability to express a broad range of tissue-restricted self-antigens, mTEC control the clonal deletion (also known as negative selection) of potentially hazardous autoreactive T cells and the generation of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Here, we describe a protocol to assess major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigen-presentation capacity of mTEC to CD4+ T cells. We detail the different steps of thymus enzymatic digestion, immunostaining, cell sorting of mTEC and CD4+ T cells, peptide-loading of mTEC, and the co-culture between these two cell types. Finally, we describe the flow cytometry protocol and the subsequent analysis to assess the activation of CD4+ T cells. This rapid co-culture assay enables the evaluation of the ability of mTEC to present antigens to CD4+ T cells in an antigen-specific context. Key features • This protocol builds upon the method used by Lopes et al. (2018 and 2022) and Charaix et al. (2022). • This protocol requires transgenic mice, such as OTIIxRag2-/- mice and the cognate peptide OVA323-339, to assess mTEC antigen presentation to CD4+ T cells. • This requires specific equipment such as a Miltenyi Biotec AutoMACS® Pro Separator, a BD FACSAriaTM III cell sorter, and a BD® LSR II flow cytometer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexia Borelli
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Cloé Zamit
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France
| | - Magali Irla
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France
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Charaix J, Borelli A, Santamaria JC, Chasson L, Giraud M, Sergé A, Irla M. Recirculating Foxp3 + regulatory T cells are restimulated in the thymus under Aire control. Cell Mol Life Sci 2022; 79:355. [PMID: 35678896 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-022-04328-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Thymically-derived Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) critically control immunological tolerance. These cells are generated in the medulla through high affinity interactions with medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC) expressing the Autoimmune regulator (Aire). Recent advances have revealed that thymic Treg contain not only developing but also recirculating cells from the periphery. Although Aire is implicated in the generation of Foxp3+ Treg, its role in the biology of recirculating Treg remains elusive. Here, we show that Aire regulates the suppressive signature of recirculating Treg independently of the remodeling of the medullary 3D organization throughout life where Treg reside. Accordingly, the adoptive transfer of peripheral Foxp3+ Treg in AireKO recipients led to an impaired suppressive signature upon their entry into the thymus. Furthermore, recirculating Treg from AireKO mice failed to attenuate the severity of multiorgan autoimmunity, demonstrating that their suppressive function is altered. Using bone marrow chimeras, we reveal that mTEC-specific expression of Aire controls the suppressive signature of recirculating Treg. Finally, mature mTEC lacking Aire were inefficient in stimulating peripheral Treg both in polyclonal and antigen-specific co-culture assays. Overall, this study demonstrates that Aire confers to mTEC the ability to restimulate recirculating Treg, unravelling a novel function for this master regulator in Treg biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Charaix
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
| | - Alexia Borelli
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
| | - Jérémy C Santamaria
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
| | - Lionel Chasson
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France
| | - Matthieu Giraud
- Center for Research in Transplantation and Translational Immunology, UMR 1064, INSERM, Nantes Université, 44000, Nantes, France
| | - Arnauld Sergé
- Turing Centre for Living Systems, Laboratoire adhésion inflammation (LAI), CNRS, INSERM, Aix-Marseille University, 13288, Marseille, France
| | - Magali Irla
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, INSERM, CIML, Marseille, France.
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Centa M, Weinstein EG, Clemente JC, Faith JJ, Fiel MI, Lyallpuri R, Herbin O, Alexandropoulos K. Impaired central tolerance induces changes in the gut microbiota that exacerbate autoimmune hepatitis. J Autoimmun 2022; 128:102808. [PMID: 35276587 PMCID: PMC8963681 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaut.2022.102808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) induce T cell tolerance in the thymus through the elimination of self-reactive thymocytes. Commensal bacteria are also critical for shaping T cell responses in the gut and distal organs. We previously showed that mice depleted of mTECs (Traf6ΔTEC) generated autoreactive T cells and developed autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). In this report, we found that Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated microbial sensing on liver hematopoietic cells and the gut microbiota contributed to AIH development in Traf6ΔTEC mice. While adoptive transfer of thymic Traf6ΔTEC T cells in immune-deficient mice was sufficient for AIH development, colonization of germ-free mice with Traf6ΔTEC microbiota failed to induce AIH, suggesting that the gut microbiota contributes to but is not sufficient for AIH development. Microbiota-mediated exacerbation of AIH associated with increased numbers of hepatic Foxp3+ T cells and their increase was proportional to the degree of inflammation. The contribution of the gut microbiota to AIH development associated with an altered microbial signature whose composition was influenced by the qualitative nature of the thymic T cell compartment. These results suggest that aberrant selection of T cells in the thymus can induce changes in the gut microbiota that lead to exacerbation of organ-specific autoimmunity and AIH. Our results add to our understanding of the mechanisms of AIH development and create a platform towards developing novel therapeutic approaches for treating this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Centa
- Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, Division of Liver Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Jose C Clemente
- Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, Division of Liver Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jeremiah J Faith
- Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, Division of Liver Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - M Isabel Fiel
- Department of Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Robby Lyallpuri
- Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, Division of Liver Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Konstantina Alexandropoulos
- Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, Division of Liver Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
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Monteleone-Cassiano AC, Dernowsek JA, Mascarenhas RS, Assis AF, Pitol D, Santos Moreira NC, Sakamoto-Hojo ET, Issa JPM, Donadi EA, Passos GA. The absence of the autoimmune regulator gene (AIRE) impairs the three-dimensional structure of medullary thymic epithelial cell spheroids. BMC Mol Cell Biol 2022; 23:15. [PMID: 35331137 PMCID: PMC8952272 DOI: 10.1186/s12860-022-00414-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Besides controlling the expression of peripheral tissue antigens, the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene also regulates the expression of adhesion genes in medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs), an essential process for mTEC-thymocyte interaction for triggering the negative selection in the thymus. For these processes to occur, it is necessary that the medulla compartment forms an adequate three-dimensional (3D) architecture, preserving the thymic medulla. Previous studies have shown that AIRE knockout (KO) mice have a small and disorganized thymic medulla; however, whether AIRE influences the mTEC-mTEC interaction in the maintenance of the 3D structure has been little explored. Considering that AIRE controls cell adhesion genes, we hypothesized that this gene affects 3D mTEC-mTEC interaction. To test this, we constructed an in vitro model system for mTEC spheroid formation, in which cells adhere to each other, establishing a 3D structure. Results The comparisons between AIRE wild type (AIREWT) and AIRE KO (AIRE−/−) 3D mTEC spheroid formation showed that the absence of AIRE: i) disorganizes the 3D structure of mTEC spheroids, ii) increases the proportion of cells at the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, iii) increases the rate of mTEC apoptosis, iv) decreases the strength of mTEC-mTEC adhesion, v) promotes a differential regulation of mTEC classical surface markers, and vi) modulates genes encoding adhesion and other molecules. Conclusions Overall, the results show that AIRE influences the 3D structuring of mTECs when these cells begin the spheroid formation through controlling cell adhesion genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Carolina Monteleone-Cassiano
- Program of Basic and Applied Immunology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.,Molecular Immunogenetics Group, Department of Genetics, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14049-900, Brazil
| | - Janaina A Dernowsek
- Institute for Energy and Nuclear Research, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Romario S Mascarenhas
- Molecular Immunogenetics Group, Department of Genetics, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14049-900, Brazil
| | - Amanda Freire Assis
- Molecular Immunogenetics Group, Department of Genetics, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14049-900, Brazil
| | - Dimitrius Pitol
- Department of Basic and Oral Biology, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Elza Tiemi Sakamoto-Hojo
- Department of Genetics, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.,Department of Biology, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters at Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - João Paulo Mardegan Issa
- Department of Basic and Oral Biology, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Eduardo A Donadi
- Program of Basic and Applied Immunology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. .,Division of Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - Geraldo Aleixo Passos
- Program of Basic and Applied Immunology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. .,Molecular Immunogenetics Group, Department of Genetics, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14049-900, Brazil. .,Department of Basic and Oral Biology, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. .,Center for Cell-Based Therapy in Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. .,Laboratory of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Department of Basic and Oral Biology, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
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Larouche JD, Trofimov A, Hesnard L, Ehx G, Zhao Q, Vincent K, Durette C, Gendron P, Laverdure JP, Bonneil É, Côté C, Lemieux S, Thibault P, Perreault C. Widespread and tissue-specific expression of endogenous retroelements in human somatic tissues. Genome Med 2020; 12:40. [PMID: 32345368 PMCID: PMC7189544 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-020-00740-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Endogenous retroelements (EREs) constitute about 42% of the human genome and have been implicated in common human diseases such as autoimmunity and cancer. The dominant paradigm holds that EREs are expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and germline cells but are repressed in differentiated somatic cells. Despite evidence that some EREs can be expressed at the RNA and protein levels in specific contexts, a system-level evaluation of their expression in human tissues is lacking. METHODS Using RNA sequencing data, we analyzed ERE expression in 32 human tissues and cell types, including medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). A tissue specificity index was computed to identify tissue-restricted ERE families. We also analyzed the transcriptome of mTECs in wild-type and autoimmune regulator (AIRE)-deficient mice. Finally, we developed a proteogenomic workflow combining RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry (MS) in order to evaluate whether EREs might be translated and generate MHC I-associated peptides (MAP) in B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (B-LCL) from 16 individuals. RESULTS We report that all human tissues express EREs, but the breadth and magnitude of ERE expression are very heterogeneous from one tissue to another. ERE expression was particularly high in two MHC I-deficient tissues (ESCs and testis) and one MHC I-expressing tissue, mTECs. In mutant mice, we report that the exceptional expression of EREs in mTECs was AIRE-independent. MS analyses identified 103 non-redundant ERE-derived MAPs (ereMAPs) in B-LCLs. These ereMAPs preferentially derived from sense translation of intronic EREs. Notably, detailed analyses of their amino acid composition revealed that ERE-derived MAPs presented homology to viral MAPs. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that ERE expression in somatic tissues is more pervasive and heterogeneous than anticipated. The high and diversified expression of EREs in mTECs and their ability to generate MAPs suggest that EREs may play an important role in the establishment of self-tolerance. The viral-like properties of ERE-derived MAPs suggest that those not expressed in mTECs can be highly immunogenic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-David Larouche
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Assya Trofimov
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Computer Science and Operations Research, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Leslie Hesnard
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Gregory Ehx
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Qingchuan Zhao
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Krystel Vincent
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Chantal Durette
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Patrick Gendron
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Jean-Philippe Laverdure
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Éric Bonneil
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Caroline Côté
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Sébastien Lemieux
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Pierre Thibault
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.
- Department of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
| | - Claude Perreault
- Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montréal, QC, Canada.
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Ribeiro C, Alves NL, Ferreirinha P. Medullary thymic epithelial cells: Deciphering the functional diversity beyond promiscuous gene expression. Immunol Lett 2019; 215:24-27. [PMID: 30853502 DOI: 10.1016/j.imlet.2019.01.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2019] [Revised: 01/28/2019] [Accepted: 01/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Within the thymus, cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells (cTECs and mTECs, respectively) provide unique microenvironments for the development of T cells that are responsive to diverse foreign antigens while self-tolerant. Essential for tolerance induction, mTECs play a critical role in negative selection and T regulatory cell differentiation. In this article, we review the current knowledge on the functional diversity within mTECs and discuss how these novel subsets contribute to tolerance induction and are integrated in the complex blueprint of mTEC differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camila Ribeiro
- i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; IBMC - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Nuno L Alves
- i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; IBMC - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Ferreirinha
- i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Portugal; IBMC - Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
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Dohr D, Engelmann R, Müller-Hilke B. A novel method to efficiently isolate medullary thymic epithelial cells from murine thymi based on UEA-1 MicroBeads. J Immunol Methods 2019; 467:12-18. [PMID: 30735690 DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2019.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The central mechanism for establishing a self-tolerant and functional T cell repertoire includes the promiscuous expression of otherwise tissue-restricted proteins by medullary thymic epithelial cells (TEC). We here demonstrate a novel and highly efficient method for isolating this rare key cell type. METHODS We combined the enrichment of medullary TEC via UEA-1 MicroBeads with the subsequent depletion of residual CD45+ hematopoietic cells via specific size exclusion and compared our results to the standard Percoll enrichment method and isolation procedure via flow cytometric cell sorting. RESULTS The addition of 2 μl UEA-1 MicroBeads per 108 thymus cells turned out best for optimal enrichment (an average of 22% purity compared to 1.2% for Percoll) and yield (an average of 1.73 × 105 medullary TEC per thymus compared to 5.16 × 104 for Percoll). After depletion of residual CD45+ cells, our method not only reached a purity of 75.5% but also turned out less stressful for the cells as compared to flow cytometric cell sorting. CONCLUSION We here provide a fast and versatile procedure for enriching medullary TEC that yields higher purity and recovery rates than the standard Percoll enrichment method Our enrichment procedure in combination with CD45+ depletion via specific size exclusion is comparable to the current gold standard flow cytometric cell sorting method. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We developed a fast and versatile procedure to isolate a high number medullary TEC to investigate the biochemical processes of medullary TEC in more depths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana Dohr
- AG Clinical Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Rostock University Medical Center, Rostock, Germany
| | - Robby Engelmann
- AG Clinical Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Rostock University Medical Center, Rostock, Germany..
| | - Brigitte Müller-Hilke
- AG Clinical Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Rostock University Medical Center, Rostock, Germany
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8
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Dobeš J, Edenhofer F, Vobořil M, Brabec T, Dobešová M, Čepková A, Klein L, Rajewsky K, Filipp D. A novel conditional Aire allele enables cell-specific ablation of the immune tolerance regulator Aire. Eur J Immunol 2018; 48:546-548. [PMID: 29193031 DOI: 10.1002/eji.201747267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2017] [Revised: 11/05/2017] [Accepted: 11/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Medullary thymic epithelial cell (mTEC)-restricted expression of autoimmune regulator (Aire) is essential for establishment of immune tolerance. Recently, Aire was also shown to be expressed in cells of hematopietic and reproductive lineages. Thus, the generation of Airefl/fl mouse strain enables the investigation of the cell-specific function of Aire.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Dobeš
- Laboratory of Immunobiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Frank Edenhofer
- Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Matouš Vobořil
- Laboratory of Immunobiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
- Department of Cell biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tomáš Brabec
- Laboratory of Immunobiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Martina Dobešová
- Laboratory of Immunobiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Adéla Čepková
- Laboratory of Immunobiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Ludger Klein
- Laboratory of Thymusfuction, Institute for Immunology, Ludwig-Maxmilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Klaus Rajewsky
- Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Dominik Filipp
- Laboratory of Immunobiology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
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9
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Herbin O, Bonito AJ, Jeong S, Weinstein EG, Rahman AH, Xiong H, Merad M, Alexandropoulos K. Medullary thymic epithelial cells and CD8α + dendritic cells coordinately regulate central tolerance but CD8α + cells are dispensable for thymic regulatory T cell production. J Autoimmun 2016; 75:141-149. [PMID: 27543048 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaut.2016.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Revised: 07/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/03/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
In the thymus, antigen presenting cells (APCs) namely, medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) and thymic dendritic cells (tDCs) regulate T cell tolerance through elimination of autoreactive T cells and production of thymic T regulatory (tTreg) cells. How the different APCs in the thymus share the burden of tolerazing the emerging T cell repertoire remains unclear. For example, while mutations that inhibit mTEC development or function associate with peripheral autoimmunity, the role of tDCs in organ-specific autoimmunity and tTreg cell production remains controversial. In this report we used mice depleted of mTECs and/or CD8α+ DCs, to examine the contributions of these cell populations in thymic tolerance. We found that while mice depleted of CD8α+ DCs or mTECs were normal or developed liver inflammation respectively, combined depletion of mTECs and CD8α+ DCs resulted in overt peripheral autoimmunity. The autoimmune manifestations in mice depleted of both mTECs and CD8α+ cDCs associated with increased percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the thymus. In contrast, while mTEC depletion resulted in reduced percentages of tTreg cells, no additional effect was observed when CD8α+ DCs were also depleted. These results reveal that: 1) mTECs and CD8α+ DCs cooperatively safeguard against peripheral autoimmunity through thymic T cell deletion; 2) CD8α+ DCs are dispensable for tTreg cell production, whereas mTECs play a non-redundant role in this process; 3) mTECs and CD8α+ DCs make unique contributions to tolerance induction that cannot be compensated for by other thymic APCs such as migratory SIRPα+ or plasmacytoid DCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Herbin
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Anthony J Bonito
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Seihwan Jeong
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Erica G Weinstein
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Adeeb H Rahman
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; The Tisch Cancer Institute/Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Huabao Xiong
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Miriam Merad
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; The Tisch Cancer Institute/Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Konstantina Alexandropoulos
- Department of Medicine/Clinical Immunology, The Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
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Alves NL, Ribeiro AR. Thymus medulla under construction: Time and space oddities. Eur J Immunol 2016; 46:829-33. [PMID: 26947141 DOI: 10.1002/eji.201646329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2016] [Revised: 02/14/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The development of effective T-cell-based immunotherapies to treat infection, cancer, and autoimmunity should incorporate the ground rules that control differentiation of T cells in the thymus. Within the thymus, thymic epithelial cells (TECs) provide microenvironments supportive of the generation and selection of T cells that are responsive to pathogen-derived antigens, and yet tolerant to self-determinants. Defects in TEC differentiation cause syndromes that range from immunodeficiency to autoimmunity, which makes the study of TECs of fundamental and clinical importance to comprehend how immunity and tolerance are balanced. Critical to tolerance induction are medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs), which purge autoreactive T cells, or redirect them to a regulatory T-cell lineage. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, studies by Baik et al. and Mayer et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2016. 46: XXXX-XXXX and 46: XXXX-XXXX]) document novel spatial-temporal singularities in the lineage specification and maintenance of mTECs. While Baik et al. define a developmental checkpoint during mTEC specification in the embryo, Mayer et al. reveal that the generation and maintenance of the adult mTEC compartment is temporally controlled in vivo. The two reports described new developmentally related, but temporally distinct principles that underlie the homeostasis of the thymic medulla across life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nuno L Alves
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (I3S), Universidade do Porot, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana R Ribeiro
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (I3S), Universidade do Porot, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Portugal
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Akiyama T, Shinzawa M, Akiyama N. RANKL-RANK interaction in immune regulatory systems. World J Orthop 2012; 3:142-50. [PMID: 23173110 PMCID: PMC3502610 DOI: 10.5312/wjo.v3.i9.142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2012] [Revised: 08/21/2012] [Accepted: 09/15/2012] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The interaction between the receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and its receptor RANK plays a critical role in the development and function of diverse tissues. This review summarizes the studies regarding the functions of RANKL signaling in immune regulatory systems. Previous in vitro and in vivo studies have indicated that the RANKL signal promotes the survival of dendritic cells (DCs), thereby activating the immune response. In addition, RANKL signaling to DCs in the body surface barriers controls self-tolerance and oral-tolerance through regulatory T cell functions. In addition to regulating DC functions, the RANKL and RANK interaction is critical for the development and organization of several lymphoid organs. The RANKL signal initiates the formation of clusters of lymphoid tissue inducer cells, which is crucial for lymph node organogenesis. Moreover, the RANKL-RANK interaction controls the differentiation of M cells, specialized epithelial cells in mucosal tissues, that take up and transcytose antigen particles to control the immune response to pathogens or commensal bacterium. The development of epithelial cells localized in the thymic medulla (mTECs) is also regulated by the RANKL-RANK signal. Given that the unique property of mTECs to express a wide variety of tissue-specific self-antigens is critical for the elimination of self-antigen reactive T cells in the thymus, the RANKL-RANK interaction contributes to the suppression of autoimmunity. Future studies on the roles of the RANKL-RANK system in immune regulatory functions would be informative for the development and application of inhibitors of RANKL signaling for disease treatment.
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