Themis differentially regulates T follicular helper cell differentiation during early and late stages of chronic viral infection.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

T follicular helper (TFH) cells are critical for humoral immunity during chronic viral infection, but the mechanisms guiding their differentiation from a novel CD4⁺ T cell progenitors remain incompletely understood. Themis, a T cell-specific adaptor protein, has been implicated in T cell development and function, but its role in peripheral CD4⁺ T cell differentiation under chronic antigen stimulation has not been defined.

Methods

We used a chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) Clone13 infection model in wild-type and Themis conditional knockout (cKO) mice. A combination of adoptive cell transfer, flow cytometry, histological analysis, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was applied to analyze the differentiation of CD4⁺ T cells into TFH cells

SUBMITTER: Zhu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12328291 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature