Fingerprints of anergic T cells

• Published in: Current biology 2001-04, Vol.11 (8), p.587-595
• Main Authors: Lechner, O, Lauber, J, Franzke, A, Sarukhan, A, von Boehmer, H, Buer, J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cell Division; Clonal Anergy - immunology; Cytokines - metabolism; DNA Fingerprinting - methods; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Matrix Attachment Region Binding Proteins; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Transgenic; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis - methods; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta - genetics; Signal Transduction - immunology; Transcription, Genetic
• ISSN: 0960-9822
• DOI: 10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00160-9

Peripheral T cell tolerance may result from activation-induced cell death [1], anergy [1], and/or immune response modulation by regulatory T cells [2]. In mice that express a transgenic receptor specific for peptide 111-119 of influenza hemagglutinin presented by E(d) class II MHC molecules as well as hemagglutinin under control of the immunoglobulin-kappa promoter, we have found that anergic T cells [3] can also have immunoregulatory function and secrete IL-10 [4]. In order to obtain information on molecular mechanisms involved in anergy and immunoregulation, we have compared expression levels of 1176 genes in anergic, naive, and recently activated CD4+ T cells of the same specificity by gene array analysis. The results provide a plausible explanation for the anergic phenotype in terms of proliferation, provide new information on the surface phenotype of in vivo-generated anergic CD4+ T cells, and yield clues with regard to new candidate genes that may be responsible for the restricted cytokine production of in vivo-anergized CD4+ T cells. The molecular fingerprints of such T cells should enable the tracking of this small population in the normal organism and the study of their role in immunoregulation.