Stable Foxp3 expression is vital for regulatory T (Treg) cell function.

Stable Foxp3 expression is vital for regulatory T (Treg) cell function. returned at the population level with the resolution of swelling or was rescued by IL-2:anti-IL-2 complex treatment during the antigen priming phase. Therefore a subset of fully committed self-antigen-specific Treg cells lost Foxp3 manifestation during an inflammatory autoimmune response and may be involved in inadequate control of autoimmunity. These results have important implications for Treg cell therapies and give insights into the dynamics of the Treg cell network during auto-reactive CD4+ T cell effector reactions nTregs (Rubtsov et al. 2010 Miyao et LY450108 al. 2012 These studies were carried out under mainly homeostatic conditions in the steady-state or in the establishing of acute lymphopenia thus raising the question whether the SHH Treg instability observed by us as well as others may be related to the inflammatory pathogenic establishing in our studies. Indeed a number of reports have shown that Treg cell reprogramming and acquisition of pathogenic potential in autoimmunity graft versus sponsor disease and vaccination settings (Dominguez-Villar et al. 2011 Laurence et al. 2012 McClymont et al. 2011 Sharma et al. 2010 Zhou et al. 2009 consistent with the suggestion that active immunity may have direct effects on Treg cell stability. Therefore with this study we set out to examine Foxp3 stability in Foxp3hi Treg cells responding to self-antigen within a polyclonal T cell repertoire and in the context of an active CD4+ T cell autoimmune response. Using an experimentally-induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model we observed that antigen-driven activation and swelling advertised Foxp3 instability selectively in the autoreactive Treg cells that indicated high levels of Foxp3 before EAE induction. Transfer experiments shown that Treg cells having a demethylated T regulatory cell-specific demethylated region (TSDR) in the Foxp3 locus down-regulated Foxp3 transcription during the induction phase of the response. Activation with cognate autoantigen induced IFN-γ production from the exFoxp3 cells in the central nervous system in the peak of the response. Stable Foxp3 expression returned with the resolution of swelling or could be rescued by enhancing IL-2 receptor signaling with IL-2:anti-IL-2 complex treatment during the antigen priming phase. These findings suggest that a subset of antigen-specific Treg cells participating in the control of an immune response can be reprogrammed and may play a role as potentially pathogenic cells during autoimmunity. Results Unstable Foxp3 manifestation during EAE in C57BL/6 mice Treg cells were analyzed in EAE induced in the C57BL/6 (B6) genetic background. The previously explained Foxp3-lineage reporter mice (Zhou et al. 2009 were backcrossed more than 8 decades onto the B6 background. In these bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenic mice Foxp3 promoter and regulatory elements travel LY450108 Cre recombinase-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein. These mice were bred LY450108 to two different self-employed mouse strains that communicate either a yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) or reddish fluorescent protein (RFP) transgene designed with a stop codon flanked by lox-P sites and put into the Rosa26 locus. In the dual expressing (Foxp3.GFP-Cre and Rosa26.YFP or Rosa26.RFP) reporter mice any cell expressing Foxp3 will express RFP or YFP for its lifetime whereas GFP will be expressed only in cells that are currently expressing Foxp3. The CD4+ T cell compartment of 6-8 week aged B6 Foxp3-Cre BAC transgenic mice crossed to Rosa26.RFP mice contains 0.5-1.5% CD4+ T cells that have reduced or lost Foxp3 expression (termed exFoxp3; Number 1A) in constant state. These data LY450108 were confirmed in another line LY450108 of B6 mice generated with Cre recombinase indicated in the Foxp3 3’ untranslated region (UTR) (Rubtsov et al. 2008 and crossed to Rosa26.RFP mice (Supplemental Number 1). These results shown that Foxp3 down-regulation occurred within the polyclonal Treg cell populace inside a lymphoreplete intact immune environment albeit a small percentage of the cells. Number 1 MOG38-49-specific Tregs down-regulate Foxp3 during EAE Next we induced EAE by immunizing B6 mice with MOG35-55 peptide in total Freund’s adjuvant (CFA). Lymphocytes were harvested from your draining lymph nodes (LNs) and spleen and CNS cells of LY450108 immunized.