Science sub-journal: Dong Chen's team reveals a new mechanism for RORγt to maintain mature Th17 cell lineage

Th17 cells play an important role in mucosal immunity, resistance to extracellular bacterial infection, and promotion of autoimmune diseases

On August 26, 2022, the team of Academician Dong Chen from the Institute of Immunology of Tsinghua University published a research paper entitled: RORγt expression in mature Th17 cells safeguards their lineage specification by inhibiting conversion to Th2 cells in the journal Science Advances

This paper elucidates the important function of RORγt in maintaining the mature Th17 cell lineage and inhibiting the expression of molecules characteristic of Th2 cells

In this study, using an inducible Rorc knockout system, we found that sustained RORγt expression is required for the maintenance of lineage characteristics of mature Th17 cells and their pathogenicity in experimental autoreactive encephalomyelitis

Interestingly, unlike the previously widely believed Th17-Th1 cell transition, the research team found that whether Rorc was knocked out at the early or mature stage, Th17 cells significantly upregulated Th2 cells at the epigenetic, transcriptional and protein expression levels.

This finding not only improves the understanding of RORγt's regulatory function of Th17 cells, but also provides a theoretical basis for the effectiveness and potential side effects of RORγt-targeted drugs in the clinic

Chi Xinxin, a doctoral student at the Institute of Immunology of Tsinghua University, is the first author of the article.

Original source:

XINXIN CHI, et al.