TCR signal strength regulates Akt substrate specificity to induce alternate Th and Treg differentiation programs

Abstract

Abstract T regulatory (Treg) cells are induced following stimulation of naïve CD4 T cells with low dose antigen to an extent that is negatively correlated with signaling via the Akt/mTOR pathway. Strong TCR signals induce high levels of Akt activity that inhibit development of Treg by poorly understood mechanisms. Here, we show that high dose stimulation of T cells results in the phosphorylation of Akt on two regulatory sites, Serine (S) 473 and Threonine (T) 308, whereas low dose stimulation results in only T308 phosphorylation. Mathematical modeling shows that the phosphorylation of Akt on both S473 and T308 is controlled by a feedback loop involving PTEN, mTORC2 and the transcription factor FoxO1 that creates a sharp activation threshold with respect to antigen dose and stimulus duration. Using mass spectrometry to analyze phosphorylated Akt substrates at different levels of stimulation, we find profound differences in the substrates phosphorylated, suggesting that a switch in substrate specificity coupled to the phosphorylation status of Akt may lead to alternative cell fates. Proteins differentially phosphorylated by these two states of Akt include RNA splicing factors, and we find changes in the splice variant expression levels of key TCR signaling proteins, such as CD3ζ and CD45 that correlate with the observed differences in cell fate. Knockdown of specific splicing factors impacted the ratios of Th versus Treg cells induced. Together, this work demonstrates that alternative splicing can affect the outcome of T cell fate decisions and identifies alternate Akt-mediated signaling networks that drive CD4+ T cell differentiation.