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Thangavelu G, Andrejeva G, Bolivar-Wagers S, Jin S, Zaiken MC, Loschi M, Aguilar EG, Furlan SN, Brown CC, Lee YC, Hyman CM, Feser CJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Hippen KL, MacDonald KP, Murphy WJ, Maillard I, Hill GR, Munn DH, Zeiser R, Kean LS, Rathmell JC, Chi H, Noelle RJ, Blazar BR. Retinoic acid signaling acts as a rheostat to balance Treg function. Cell Mol Immunol 2022; 19:820-833. [PMID: 35581350 PMCID: PMC9243059 DOI: 10.1038/s41423-022-00869-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [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: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) promote immune homeostasis by maintaining self-tolerance and regulating inflammatory responses. Under certain inflammatory conditions, Tregs can lose their lineage stability and function. Previous studies have reported that ex vivo exposure to retinoic acid (RA) enhances Treg function and stability. However, it is unknown how RA receptor signaling in Tregs influences these processes in vivo. Herein, we employed mouse models in which RA signaling is silenced by the expression of the dominant negative receptor (DN) RARα in all T cells. Despite the fact that DNRARα conventional T cells are hypofunctional, Tregs had increased CD25 expression, STAT5 pathway activation, mTORC1 signaling and supersuppressor function. Furthermore, DNRARα Tregs had increased inhibitory molecule expression, amino acid transporter expression, and metabolic fitness and decreased antiapoptotic proteins. Supersuppressor function was observed when wild-type mice were treated with a pharmacologic pan-RAR antagonist. Unexpectedly, Treg-specific expression of DNRARα resulted in distinct phenotypes, such that a single allele of DNRARα in Tregs heightened their suppressive function, and biallelic expression led to loss of suppression and autoimmunity. The loss of Treg function was not cell intrinsic, as Tregs that developed in a noninflammatory milieu in chimeric mice reconstituted with DNRARα and wild-type bone marrow maintained the enhanced suppressive capacity. Fate mapping suggested that maintaining Treg stability in an inflammatory milieu requires RA signaling. Our findings indicate that RA signaling acts as a rheostat to balance Treg function in inflammatory and noninflammatory conditions in a dose-dependent manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Govindarajan Thangavelu
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
| | - Gabriela Andrejeva
- Center for Immunobiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Sara Bolivar-Wagers
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Sujeong Jin
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Michael C Zaiken
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Michael Loschi
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Ethan G Aguilar
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Scott N Furlan
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Chrysothemis C Brown
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Immunology Program, and Ludwig Center, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yu-Chi Lee
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, USA
| | - Cameron McDonald Hyman
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Colby J Feser
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | | | - Keli L Hippen
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Kelli P MacDonald
- Department of Immunology, Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) Berghofer Medical Research Institute and School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - William J Murphy
- Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Ivan Maillard
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - David H Munn
- Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
| | - Robert Zeiser
- Department of Haematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Leslie S Kean
- Boston Children's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jeffrey C Rathmell
- Center for Immunobiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Hongbo Chi
- Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Randolph J Noelle
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, USA
| | - Bruce R Blazar
- Department of Pediatrics, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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