Abstract
Naive CD4+ T cells are more resistant to age-related loss than naive CD8+ T cells, suggesting mechanisms that preferentially protect naive CD4+ T cells during aging. Here, we show that TRIB2 is more abundant in naive CD4+ than CD8+ T cells and counteracts quiescence exit by suppressing AKT activation. TRIB2 deficiency increases AKT activity and accelerates proliferation and differentiation in response to interleukin-7 (IL-7) in humans and during lymphopenia in mice. TRIB2 transcription is controlled by the lineage-determining transcription factors ThPOK and RUNX3. Ablation of Zbtb7b (encoding ThPOK) and Cbfb (obligatory RUNT cofactor) attenuates the difference in lymphopenia-induced proliferation between naive CD4+ and CD8+ cells. In older adults, ThPOK and TRIB2 expression wanes in naive CD4+ T cells, causing loss of naivety. These findings assign TRIB2 a key role in regulating T cell homeostasis and provide a model to explain the lesser resilience of CD8+ T cells to undergo changes with age.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 112195 |
Journal | Cell reports |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 28 2023 |
Keywords
- CP: Immunology
- T cell aging
- T cell homeostasis
- TRIB2
- immunosenescence
- naive T cells
- virtual memory T cell
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology