Cited by 958T-cell and B-cell ImmunologyPsoriasis: Treatment and PathogenesisSignaling Pathways in Disease

Regulatory T-cell suppressor program co-opts transcription factor IRF4 to control TH2 responses

Open access
Zheng, Ye, Chaudhry, Ashutosh, Kas, Arnold, deRoos, Paul, Kim, Jeong M., Chu, Tin-Tin, Corcoran, Lynn, Treuting, Piper +2 more·2009·Nature

Abstract

In the course of infection or autoimmunity, particular transcription factors orchestrate the differentiation of T(H)1, T(H)2 or T(H)17 effector cells, the responses of which are limited by a distinct lineage of suppressive regulatory T cells (T(reg)). T(reg) cell differentiation and function are guided by the transcription factor Foxp3, and their deficiency due to mutations in Foxp3 results in aggressive fatal autoimmune disease associated with sharply augmented T(H)1 and T(H)2 cytokine production. Recent studies suggested that Foxp3 regulates the bulk of the Foxp3-dependent transcriptional program indirectly through a set of transcriptional regulators serving as direct Foxp3 targets. Here we show that in mouse T(reg) cells, high amounts of interferon regulatory factor-4 (IRF4), a transcription factor essential for T(H)2 effector cell differentiation, is dependent on Foxp3 expression. We proposed that IRF4 expression endows T(reg) cells with the ability to suppress T(H)2 responses. Indeed, ablation of a conditional Irf4 allele in T(reg) cells resulted in selective dysregulation of T(H)2 responses, IL4-dependent immunoglobulin isotype production, and tissue lesions with pronounced plasma cell infiltration, in contrast to the mononuclear-cell-dominated pathology typical of mice lacking T(reg) cells. Our results indicate that T(reg) cells use components of the transcriptional machinery, promoting a particular type of effector CD4(+) T cell differentiation, to efficiently restrain the corresponding type of the immune response.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nature07674

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • An increasing list of transcription factors, including IRF4, STAT3, T-bet, GATA3, Bcl-6, and Blimp-1, regulate both effector T cell function and regulatory T cell function.

    “an increasing list of transcription factors now shown to regulate both effector T cell function and regulatory T cell function, including IRF4, STAT3, T-bet, GATA3, Bcl-6, and Blimp-1 [98–105].”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zheng, Y., Chaudhry, A., Kas, A., deRoos, P., Kim, J. M., Chu, T.-T., Corcoran, L., Treuting, P., Klein, U., & Rudensky, A. Y.
Affiliations
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (AU)
  • University of Washington (US)
  • Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (US)
Corresponding author
Rudensky, Alexander Y.
Venue
Nature
Published
2009-02-01
Volume
458
Issue
7236
Pages
351-356
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2080935386
Cited by
958
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 50 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 54 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 74 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 74 · 2012: 73
FWCI
33.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Psoriasis: Treatment and Pathogenesis
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Signaling Pathways in Disease
Keywords
regulatory T cells, IRF4, Foxp3, Th2 immune response, Treg differentiation, transcriptional regulation, autoimmune disease, IL-4, immunoglobulin isotype switching, plasma cell infiltration, CD4+ T cell differentiation, suppressor function
MeSH terms
Interferon Regulatory Factor-4, Animals, Autoimmune Diseases, Cell Differentiation, Immunoglobulin E, Immunoglobulin G, Lymphocyte Activation, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Thymus Gland, Th2 Cells, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory, Interferon Regulatory Factors, Mice, Forkhead Transcription Factors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review