Diane Mathis

Lean, but not obese, fat is enriched for a unique population of regulatory T cells that affect metabolic parameters.

Obesity is accompanied by chronic, low-grade inflammation of adipose tissue, which promotes insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes. These findings raise the question of how fat inflammation can escape the powerful armamentarium of cells and molecules normally responsible for guarding against a runaway immune response. CD4+ Foxp3+ T regulatory (Treg) cells with a unique phenotype were highly enriched in the abdominal fat of normal mice, but their numbers were strikingly and specifically reduced at this site in insulin-resistant models of obesity. Loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments revealed that these Treg cells influenced the inflammatory state of adipose tissue and, thus, insulin resistance. Cytokines differentially synthesized by fat-resident regulatory and conventional T cells directly affected the synthesis of inflammatory mediators and glucose uptake by cultured adipocytes. These observations suggest that harnessing the anti-inflammatory properties of Treg cells to inhibit elements of the metabolic syndrome may have therapeutic potential.

Gut-residing segmented filamentous bacteria drive autoimmune arthritis via T helper 17 cells.

Commensal microbes can have a substantial impact on autoimmune disorders, but the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms remain largely unexplored. We report that autoimmune arthritis was strongly attenuated in the K/BxN mouse model under germ-free (GF) conditions, accompanied by reductions in serum autoantibody titers, splenic autoantibody-secreting cells, germinal centers, and the splenic T helper 17 (Th17) cell population. Neutralization of interleukin-17 prevented arthritis development in specific-pathogen-free K/BxN mice resulting from a direct effect of this cytokine on B cells to inhibit germinal center formation. The systemic deficiencies of the GF animals reflected a loss of Th17 cells from the small intestinal lamina propria. Introduction of a single gut-residing species, segmented filamentous bacteria, into GF animals reinstated the lamina propria Th17 cell compartment and production of autoantibodies, and arthritis rapidly ensued. Thus, a single commensal microbe, via its ability to promote a specific Th cell subset, can drive an autoimmune disease.

FOXP3 Controls Regulatory T Cell Function through Cooperation with NFAT

Antigen stimulation of immune cells activates the transcription factor NFAT, a key regulator of T cell activation and anergy. NFAT forms cooperative complexes with the AP-1 family of transcription factors and regulates T cell activation-associated genes. Here we show that regulatory T cell (Treg) function is mediated by an analogous cooperative complex of NFAT with the forkhead transcription factor FOXP3, a lineage specification factor for Tregs. The crystal structure of an NFAT:FOXP2:DNA complex reveals an extensive protein-protein interaction interface between NFAT and FOXP2. Structure-guided mutations of FOXP3, predicted to progressively disrupt its interaction with NFAT, interfere in a graded manner with the ability of FOXP3 to repress expression of the cytokine IL2, upregulate expression of the Treg markers CTLA4 and CD25, and confer suppressor function in a murine model of autoimmune diabetes. Thus by switching transcriptional partners, NFAT converts the acute T cell activation program into the suppressor program of Tregs.

Mice Lacking MHC Class II Molecules

We have produced mice that lack major histocompatibility complex class II antigens, permitting us to evaluate the role of these molecules in diverse aspects of T and B cell differentiation. The mutant mice show near-complete elimination of CD4+ T lymphocytes from the spleen and lymph nodes; the few remaining CD4-positive cells are preferentially localized to B cell follicles. Surprisingly, substantial numbers of CD4 single-positive cells reside in the thymus; however, these are not mature thymocytes as we currently recognize them. B lymphocytes occur in normal numbers and are capable of terminal differentiation to plasma cells. Nevertheless, several aberrations in the B cell compartment are demonstrable: a lack of germinal centers, fewer IgM+IgD+ cells in certain individuals, reduced production of serum IgG1, and complete inability to respond to T-dependent antigens. In short, the class II-negative mice have confirmed some old ideas about lymphocyte differentiation, but have provided some surprises.

β-Cell death during progression to diabetes

The hallmark of type 1 diabetes is specific destruction of pancreatic islet β-cells. Apoptosis of β-cells may be crucial at several points during disease progression, initiating leukocyte invasion of the islets and terminating the production of insulin in islet cells. β-Cell apoptosis may also be involved in the occasional evolution of type 2 into type 1 diabetes.

Organ-Specific Disease Provoked by Systemic Autoimmunity

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic joint disease characterized by leukocyte invasion and synoviocyte activation followed by cartilage and bone destruction. Its etiology and pathogenesis are poorly understood. We describe a spontaneous mouse model of this syndrome, generated fortuitously by crossing a T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic line with the NOD strain. All offspring develop a joint disease highly reminiscent of RA in man. The trigger for the murine disorder is chance recognition of a NOD-derived major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecule by the transgenic TCR; progression to arthritis involves CD4+ T, B, and probably myeloid cells. Thus, a joint-specific disease need not arise from response to a joint-specific antigen but can be precipitated by a breakdown in general mechanisms of self-tolerance resulting in systemic self-reactivity. We suggest that human RA develops by an analogous mechanism.

Arthritis Critically Dependent on Innate Immune System Players

K/BxN T cell receptor transgenic mice are a model of inflammatory arthritis, similar to rheumatoid arthritis. Disease in these animals is focused specifically on the joints but stems from autoreactivity to a ubiquitously expressed antigen, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI). T and B cells are both required for disease initiation, but anti-GPI immunoglobulins (Igs), alone, can induce arthritis in lymphocyte-deficient recipients. Here, we show that the arthritogenic Igs act through both Fc receptors (in particular, FcgammaRIII) and the complement network (C5a). Surprisingly, the alternative pathway of complement activation is critical, while classical pathway components are entirely dispensable. We suggest that autoimmune disease, even one that is organ specific, can occur when mobilization of an adaptive immune response results in runaway activation of the innate response.

Following a diabetogenic T cell from genesis through pathogenesis

Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice spontaneously develop a disease very similar to type 1 diabetes in humans. We have generated a transgenic mouse strain carrying the rearranged T cell receptor genes from a diabetogenic T cell clone derived from a NOD mouse. Self-reactive T cells expressing the transgene-encoded specificity are not tolerized in these animals, resulting in rampant insulitis and eventually diabetes. Features of the disease process emphasize two so-called check-points, recognized previously in the NOD and human diseases but easily misinterpreted. Although NOD mice are protected from insulitis and diabetes by expression of the E molecule encoded in the major histocompatibility complex, the transgenics are not, permitting us to exclude some possible mechanisms of protection.

From Systemic T Cell Self-Reactivity to Organ-Specific Autoimmune Disease via Immunoglobulins

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common and debilitating autoimmune disease whose cause and mechanism remain a mystery. We recently described a T cell receptor transgenic mouse model that spontaneously develops a disease with most of the clinical, histological, and immunological features of rheumatoid arthritis in humans. Disease development in K/BxN mice is initiated by systemic T cell self-reactivity; it requires T cells, as expected, but B cells are also needed, more surprisingly. Here, we have identified the role of B cells as the secretion of arthritogenic immunoglobulins. We suggest that a similar scenario may unfold in some other arthritis models and in human patients, beginning with pervasive T cell autoreactivity and ending in immunoglobulin-provoked joint destruction.

Cytokine Requirements for Acute and Basal Homeostatic Proliferation of Naive and Memory CD8+ T Cells

Both naive and memory T cells undergo antigen-independent proliferation after transfer into a T cell–depleted environment (acute homeostatic proliferation), whereas only memory T cells slowly divide in a full T cell compartment (basal proliferation). We show, first, that naive and memory CD8+ T cells have different cytokine requirements for acute homeostatic proliferation. Interleukin (IL)-7 receptor(R)α–mediated signals were obligatory for proliferation of naive T cells in lymphopenic hosts, whereas IL-15 did not influence their division. Memory T cells, on the other hand, could use either IL-7Rα– or IL-15–mediated signals for acute homeostatic proliferation: their proliferation was delayed when either IL-7Rα was blocked or IL-15 removed, but only when both signals were absent was proliferation ablated. Second, the cytokine requirements for basal and acute homeostatic proliferation of CD8+ memory T cells differ, as basal division of memory T cells was blocked completely in IL-15–deficient hosts. These data suggest a possible mechanism for the dearth of memory CD8+ T cells in IL-15– and IL-15Rα–deficient mice is their impaired basal proliferation. Our results show that naive and memory T lymphocytes differ in their cytokine dependence for acute homeostatic proliferation and that memory T lymphocytes have distinct requirements for proliferation in full versus empty compartments.