title: Survival and maintenance of regulatory T cells require the kinase TAK1.
abstract: Regulatory T (Treg) cells play a central role in regulating peripheral immune tolerance and preventing autoimmunity. Despite the extensive studies on the development of Treg cells, the molecular mechanisms that maintain the population of committed Treg cells remain poorly understood. We show here that Treg-conditional ablation of the kinase TAK1 reduced the number of Treg cells in the peripheral lymphoid organs, causing abnormal activation of conventional T cells and autoimmune symptoms. Using an inducible gene knockout approach, we further demonstrate that TAK1 is crucial for the survival of Treg cells. Expression of a constitutively active IκB kinase partially restored the level of Treg cells in the TAK1Treg-KO mice. These results suggest a crucial role for TAK1 for maintaining the survival of committed Treg cells under physiological conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 7455 Fannin Street, Box 902, Houston TX 77030, USA.|College of Pharmacy, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 7455 Fannin Street, Box 902, Houston TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Hongbo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 7455 Fannin Street, Box 902, Houston TX 77030, USA.|Center for Inflammation and Cancer, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 7455 Fannin Street, Box 902, Houston TX 77030, USA.|The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Shao-Cong
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology; D002470:Cell Survival; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006706:Homeostasis; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D020930:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology*; D000099151:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinase 7
chemical_list: D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; D020930:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases; D000099151:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinase 7