Project description:T Follicular helper (Tfh) cell is an effector CD4+ T cell subset specialized in helping B cells in germinal centers (GC) reactions. Although Bcl6 was identified as a Tfh-specific transcription factor essential for their development, the molecular mechanisms underlying Bcl6 regulation and Tfh cell commitment remain unclear. Here, we report that Tox2 transcription factor is highly expressed in Tfh cells, regulated by Bcl6 and STAT3. Forced expression of Tox2 drives Bcl6 expression and Tfh development. Mechanistically, Tox2 directly binds to Tfh-associated genes, including Bcl6, and functions to promote their chromatin accessibility and modulate the activities of other Tfh-regulating factors. Conversely, genetic deletion of Tox2 results in defective Tfh differentiation, and inhibiting both Tox and Tox2 in T cells abolishes Tfh differentiation and GC response. Thus, our results demonstrate that Tox2 is a key transcription factor that regulates Bcl6 expression and Tfh development and suggest a Tox2-Bcl6 axis in feed-forward regulation of Tfh program.
Project description:T Follicular helper (Tfh) cell is an effector CD4+ T cell subset specialized in helping B cells in germinal centers (GC) reactions. Although Bcl6 was identified as a Tfh-specific transcription factor essential for their development, the molecular mechanisms underlying Bcl6 regulation and Tfh cell commitment remain unclear. Here, we report that Tox2 transcription factor is highly expressed in Tfh cells, regulated by Bcl6 and STAT3. Forced expression of Tox2 drives Bcl6 expression and Tfh development. Mechanistically, Tox2 directly binds to Tfh-associated genes, including Bcl6, and functions to promote their chromatin accessibility and modulate the activities of other Tfh-regulating factors. Conversely, genetic deletion of Tox2 results in defective Tfh differentiation, and inhibiting both Tox and Tox2 in T cells abolishes Tfh differentiation and GC response. Thus, our results demonstrate that Tox2 is a key transcription factor that regulates Bcl6 expression and Tfh development and suggest a Tox2-Bcl6 axis in feed-forward regulation of Tfh program.
Project description:Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are crucial for formation of B cell germinal center (GC) and long-term production of antigen-specific antibodies. The molecular mechanism underlying Tfh cell differentiation, however, still remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the transcription factor Thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box family member 2 (Tox2) is important for Tfh cell development. Tox2 deficiency led to impaired Tfh cell differentiation and subsequently reduced GC formation. Consistently, ectopic expression of Tox2 promoted Tfh cell differentiation. Mechanistically, we found that Tox2 regulated the expression of Ascl2, an initiator in driving CXCR5 transcription in Tfh cells; Tox2 deficiency caused the decreased expression of Ascl2. Restoration of Ascl2 expression in Tox2 deficient CD4+ T cells rescued the defect in Tfh cell differentiation. Our study suggests that Tox2 is an important transcription factor for Tfh cell development.
Project description:T Follicular helper (Tfh) cell is an effector CD4+ T cell subset specialized in helping B cells in germinal centers (GC) reactions. Although Bcl6 was identified as a Tfh-specific transcription factor essential for their development, the molecular mechanisms underlying Bcl6 regulation and Tfh cell commitment remain unclear. Here, we report that Tox2 transcription factor is highly expressed in Tfh cells, regulated by Bcl6 and STAT3. Forced expression of Tox2 drives Bcl6 expression and Tfh development. Mechanistically, Tox2 directly binds to Tfh-associated genes, including Bcl6, and functions to promote their chromatin accessibility and modulate the activities of other Tfh-regulating factors. Conversely, genetic deletion of Tox2 results in defective Tfh differentiation, and inhibiting both Tox and Tox2 in T cells abolishes Tfh differentiation and GC response. Thus, our results demonstrate that Tox2 is a key transcription factor that regulates Bcl6 expression and Tfh development and suggest a Tox2-Bcl6 axis in feed-forward regulation of Tfh program.
Project description:Thymocyte selection-associated high mobility group box protein family member 2 (TOX2) is a transcription factor belonging to the TOX family that shares a highly conserved high mobility group DNA binding domain with the other TOX members. While TOX1 has been shown to be an essential regulator of T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell differentiation in mice, little is known about the roles of the other TOX family members in lymphocyte development, particularly in humans. In this study, we found that TOX2 was preferentially expressed in mature human NK cells and was upregulated during in vitro differentiation of NK cells from human umbilical cord blood (UCB)M-bM-^@M-^Sderived CD34+ cells. Gene silencing of TOX2 intrinsically hindered the transition between early developmental stages of NK cells, while overexpression of TOX2 enhanced the development of mature NK cells from UCB CD34+ cells. We subsequently found that TOX2 was independent of ETS-1 but could directly upregulate the transcription of TBX21 (encoding T-BET). Overexpression of T-BET rescued the TOX2 knockdown phenotypes. Given the essential function of T-BET in NK cell differentiation, TOX2 therefore plays a crucial role in controlling normal NK cell development by acting upstream of TBX21 transcriptional regulation. survey of NK cells over time
Project description:Zfp831 is required for proper Tfh cell differentiation. In order to further understand the mechanisms whereby Zfp831 enhances Tfh differentiation, we conducted ChIP-seq analysis of Zfp831-HA
Project description:To investigate the effects of TOX and TOX2 on memory T cell differentiation in human CAR T cells, we used shRNA to knock down TOX2 or TOX, or overexpress FLAG-TOX2. We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using RNAseq, plus examined the binding of TOX2 to chromatin using ChIPseq.