At the forefront of the battle, what makes T cells "immortal"?

T cells are at the forefront of the battle against viruses, bacteria, and malignant cells-the T cells of our immune system
.
But as we age, our body produces fewer and fewer hormones

Like humans, every cell in our body is trying to avoid death as much as possible
.
This is especially true for a specific type of immune cell called T lymphocytes (T cells for short)

How T cells survive in the human body for so long, even for decades, has been unclear for a long time
.
Professor Jean Pieters’ research group has now revealed the existence of a hitherto unrecognized pathway to promote the long-term survival of T cells

Coronin 1 can survive for a long time

In early research, Pieters' team and others have shown that coronin 1 is essential for the survival of peripheral T cells, as well as for their production and maturation
.
In their current research, the team has now been able to show that the pathway previously thought to be related to T cell survival is actually independent of coronin 1.

In order to find this approach that relies on coronin 1, the researchers set up a program to collect high-purity T cells, and then analyze the entire RNA molecules in normal and coronin 1 deficient T cells
.
Somewhat unexpectedly, an in-depth bioinformatics analysis of a large amount of data did not find any difference between the two groups of T cells

Researchers reveal unknown pathways

Surprisingly, there is a positive match between coronin 1-dependent T cell survival and the pathway of lipid kinase PI3Kdelta to modify the plasma membrane
.
With the assistance of Professor Matthias Wyman, a PI3K expert in the Department of Biomedicine, the researchers pieced together the various parts of the puzzle, making them realize that coronin 1 maintains the activity of PI3Kdelta and in this way inhibits the death of T cells

Pieters said: "Follow-up studies on these findings will be exciting, not only to understand the role of other coronin family members in cell survival, but also to understand how cell populations, such as circulating T cells in the blood, are maintained for a long time.

"Finally, considering the importance of T cells in the regulatory process, such as viral and microbial pathogen resistance, tumorigenicity, and autoimmunity, this work may help to better control appropriate and inappropriate T cells.
Cell activity

Reference: "Suppression of caspase 8 activity by a coronin 1–PI3Kδ pathway promotes T cell survival independently of TCR and IL-7 signaling" by Mayumi Mori, Julie Ruer-Laventie, Wandrille Duchemin, Philippe Demougin, Tohnyui Ndinyanka Fabrice, Matthias P .
Wymann and Jean Pieters, 21 December 2021, Science Signaling .

DOI: 10.
1126/scisignal.