The Role of the Ikaros Family of Transcription Factors in Regulatory T cell Development and Function.

Amara Seng,Thomas M Yankee

doi:10.4172/2155-9899.1000495

Abstract

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are a subset of immune cells that maintain homeostasis by promoting immune tolerance and suppressing the immune response via a variety of mechanisms such as secreting cytokines, killing reactive immune cells, and inducing anergy. Dysfunction of Treg cells has been implicated in inflammatory diseases such as autoimmunity and transplant rejection. Conversely, too many or hyperresponsive Treg cells has been observed in cancer and chronic infections. Treg cells have proven to be difficult to study as there are no definitive Treg surface markers. Additionally, Tregs can gain pro-inflammatory phenotype depending on stimuli. In this commentary, we discuss the expression and function of members of the Ikaros family of transcription factors during Treg cell development and activation.

Highlights

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are approximately 3–5% of CD4+ T cells and function to promote immune tolerance and maintain immunologic homeostasis
Impaired Treg cell numbers or function has been linked to overactive immune responses, which contributes to diseases such as autoimmunity, allergy, and graft-versus-host disease
Consistent with previous reports [28,29,30,31,32], we found that CD4−CD8− double negative (DN) thymocytes differentiate into immature single positive (ISP) CD4+ thymocytes before expressing CD8 to become CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) thymocytes

Summary

Introduction

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are approximately 3–5% of CD4+ T cells and function to promote immune tolerance and maintain immunologic homeostasis. One defining feature of thymic Tregs is their high expression of Helios, a member of the Ikaros family transcription factors. Treg cells can express Ikaros, Aiolos, and Eos. Each Ikaros family member has four DNA-binding zinc finger motifs near the Nterminus and two C-terminal zinc fingers that mediate protein-protein interactions [17]. Examining the entire Ikaros family in Treg cells offers a tool analyze Treg cell development and function.

Results

Conclusion