Project description:Epigenetic changes are crucial for the generation of immunological memory. Failure to generate or maintain these changes will result in poor memory responses. Similarly, augmenting or stabilizing the correct epigenetic states offers a potential method of enhancing immune memory. Yet the transcription factors that regulate these processes are poorly defined, as are the target genes they control and they chromatin-modifying complexes they recruit. Using model pathogens and three different mouse models, we find that the widely expressed transcription factor Oct1 and its cofactor OCA-B are selectively required for the in vivo generation of functional CD4 memory. In vitro, both proteins are required to maintain a poised state at the Il2 target locus in resting but previously stimulated CD4 T cells, and to generate robust Il2 expression upon restimulation. Gene expression profiling indicates that OCA-B is also required for the robust re-expression of multiple other targets including Ifng and Il17a. ChIPseq identify multiple differentially expressed direct targets. We identify an underlying mechanism involving OCA-B recruitment of the histone lysine demethylase Jmjd1a to targets such as Il2 and Ifng. The findings pinpoint Oct1 and OCA-B as unanticipated mediators of CD4 T cell memory. Examination of transcription factor occupancy in CD4 T cells upon rest and restimulation.
Project description:Epigenetic changes are crucial for the generation of immunological memory1-4. Failure to generate or maintain these changes will result in poor memory responses. Similarly, augmenting or stabilizing the correct epigenetic states offers a potential method of enhancing immune memory. Yet the transcription factors that regulate these processes are poorly defined, as are the chromatin modifying complexes they recruit and the chromatin modifications they control. Using pathogen infection models and three different mouse models, including a new conditional allele, we find that the widely expressed transcription factor Oct15, and its cofactor OCA-B6,7, are selectively required the in vivo generation of functional CD4 memory. In vitro, both proteins are also required to maintain a poised state at the Il2 target locus in resting but previously stimulated CD4 T cells, and to generate robust Il2 expression upon restimulation. OCA-B is also required for the robust re-expression of other known targets including Il17a, and Ifng. We identify an underlying mechanism involving OCA-B recruitment of the histone lysine demethylase Jmjd1a8 to targets such as Il2 and Ifng. The findings pinpoint Oct1 and OCA-B as unanticipated mediators of CD4 T cell memory. Examination of 4 different conditions in 2 genotypes
Project description:Epigenetic changes are crucial for the generation of immunological memory. Failure to generate or maintain these changes will result in poor memory responses. Similarly, augmenting or stabilizing the correct epigenetic states offers a potential method of enhancing immune memory. Yet the transcription factors that regulate these processes are poorly defined, as are the target genes they control and they chromatin-modifying complexes they recruit. Using model pathogens and three different mouse models, we find that the widely expressed transcription factor Oct1 and its cofactor OCA-B are selectively required for the in vivo generation of functional CD4 memory. In vitro, both proteins are required to maintain a poised state at the Il2 target locus in resting but previously stimulated CD4 T cells, and to generate robust Il2 expression upon restimulation. Gene expression profiling indicates that OCA-B is also required for the robust re-expression of multiple other targets including Ifng and Il17a. ChIPseq identify multiple differentially expressed direct targets. We identify an underlying mechanism involving OCA-B recruitment of the histone lysine demethylase Jmjd1a to targets such as Il2 and Ifng. The findings pinpoint Oct1 and OCA-B as unanticipated mediators of CD4 T cell memory.
Project description:Epigenetic changes are crucial for the generation of immunological memory1-4. Failure to generate or maintain these changes will result in poor memory responses. Similarly, augmenting or stabilizing the correct epigenetic states offers a potential method of enhancing immune memory. Yet the transcription factors that regulate these processes are poorly defined, as are the chromatin modifying complexes they recruit and the chromatin modifications they control. Using pathogen infection models and three different mouse models, including a new conditional allele, we find that the widely expressed transcription factor Oct15, and its cofactor OCA-B6,7, are selectively required the in vivo generation of functional CD4 memory. In vitro, both proteins are also required to maintain a poised state at the Il2 target locus in resting but previously stimulated CD4 T cells, and to generate robust Il2 expression upon restimulation. OCA-B is also required for the robust re-expression of other known targets including Il17a, and Ifng. We identify an underlying mechanism involving OCA-B recruitment of the histone lysine demethylase Jmjd1a8 to targets such as Il2 and Ifng. The findings pinpoint Oct1 and OCA-B as unanticipated mediators of CD4 T cell memory.
Project description:Sun et al. use T cell conditional knockout and ectopic expression to show that OCA-B is required for, and sufficient to promote, CD4+ memory T cell formation in vivo, and can be used to prospectively identify effector T cells with enhanced memory potential.
Project description:Sun et al. use T cell conditional knockout and ectopic expression to show that OCA-B is required for, and sufficient to promote, CD4+ memory T cell formation in vivo, and can be used to prospectively identify effector T cells with enhanced memory potential.
Project description:The transcriptional coregulator OCA-B is induced in stimulated naïve CD4+ T cells, where docks with transcription factor Oct1 to regulate genes such as Il2 and Ifng. OCA-B regulates its targets in cases of repeated antigen exposure, a necessary feature of autoimmunity. Polymorphisms in binding sites for Oct1, and by extension OCA-B, as associated with multiple forms of autoimmunity including autoimmune (type-1) diabetes. We hypothesized that T cell-specific OCA-B deletion would protect mice from type-1 diabetes, and that pharmacologic OCA-B inhibition would provide similar protection. We developed an Ocab (Pou2af1) conditional allele and backcrossed it onto a diabetes-prone NOD/ShiLtJ strain background. T cell-specific OCA-B loss protected mice from spontaneous T1D. To clarify the mechanism, we profiled leukocytes from prediabetic islets by single-cell RNA sequencing and T cell receptor clonotype analysis.
Project description:The identification of druggable therapeutic targets that preferentially promote autoimmunity remains a key goal in the field. Recent work shows that populations of memory/stem-like T cells drive autoimmunity, but the factors that generate and sustain these populations are incompletely understood. The lymphocyte-restricted transcriptional cofactor OCA-B/Pou2af1 is a regulator of CD4+ T cell memory. Here we show that T cell-intrinsic loss of OCA-B protects mice from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in both chronic and relapsing-remitting mouse models while preserving acute responses to infection with a neurotropic coronavirus. In adoptive transfer EAE driven by antigen re-encounter, T cell-specific OCA-B loss largely eliminates Th1- and Th17-mediated CNS infiltration, proinflammatory cytokine production and disease. Using an OCA-B-mCherry reporter mouse, we show that OCA-B expressing CD4+ T cells within the CNS of mice with EAE preferentially display a memory-like phenotype. Transferring these OCA-Bhi memory-like CD4+ T cells preferentially confers disease, identifying OCA-B as a marker of encephalitogenic autoreactive CD4+ T cells. Notably, in a relapsing-remitting EAE model, OCA-B T cell-deficient mice show specific protection at relapse, highlighting the potential to target OCA-B in MS patients to limit disease progression. During remission, OCA-B promotes the expression of Tcf7, Slamf6, and Sell in proliferating T cell populations. At relapse, OCA-B loss results in the accumulation of an immunomodulatory CD4+ T cell population expressing Ccr9 and Bach2. These results highlight OCA-B as a driver of pathogenic stem-like T cells responsible for relapse and promising MS therapeutic target.