Constitutive cytokine mRNAs mark natural killer (NK) and NK T cells poised for rapid effector function.
Natural killer (NK) and NK T cells are tissue lymphocytes that secrete cytokines rapidly upon stimulation. Here, we show that these cells maintain distinct patterns of constitutive cytokine mRNAs. Unlike conventional T cells, NK T cells activate interleukin (IL)-4 and interferon (IFN)-gamma transcription during thymic development and populate the periphery with both cytokine loci previously modified by histone acetylation. Similarly, NK cells transcribe and modify the IFN-gamma gene, but not IL-4, during developmental maturation in the bone marrow. Lineage-specific patterns of cytokine transcripts predate infection and suggest evolutionary selection for invariant but distinct types of effector responses among the earliest responding lymphocytes.
Stetson
Daniel B
DB
University of California-San Francisco, Box 0654, C-443, 521 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Mohrs
Markus
M
Reinhardt
R Lee
RL
Baron
Jody L
JL
Wang
Zhi-En
ZE
Gapin
Laurent
L
Kronenberg
Mitchell
M
Locksley
Richard M
RM
D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D005453:Fluorescence; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000235:genetics*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D002843:Chromatin; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma