Biomaterial Database

The vimentin intermediate filament network restrains regulatory T cell suppression of graft-versus-host disease. 2018

Cameron McDonald-Hyman, and James T Muller, and Michael Loschi, and Govindarajan Thangavelu, and Asim Saha, and Sudha Kumari, and Dawn K Reichenbach, and Michelle J Smith, and Guoan Zhang, and Brent H Koehn, and Jiqiang Lin, and Jason S Mitchell, and Brian T Fife, and Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari, and Colby J Feser, and Andrew Kemal Kirchmeier, and Mark J Osborn, and Keli L Hippen, and Ameeta Kelekar, and Jonathan S Serody, and Laurence A Turka, and David H Munn, and Hongbo Chi, and Thomas A Neubert, and Michael L Dustin, and Bruce R Blazar

Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Department of Pediatrics, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical for maintaining immune homeostasis. However, current Treg immunotherapies do not optimally treat inflammatory diseases in patients. Understanding the cellular processes that control Treg function may allow for the augmentation of therapeutic efficacy. In contrast to activated conventional T cells, in which protein kinase C-θ (PKC-θ) localizes to the contact point between T cells and antigen-presenting cells, in human and mouse Tregs, PKC-θ localizes to the opposite end of the cell in the distal pole complex (DPC). Here, using a phosphoproteomic screen, we identified the intermediate filament vimentin as a PKC-θ phospho target and show that vimentin forms a DPC superstructure on which PKC-θ accumulates. Treatment of mouse Tregs with either a clinically relevant PKC-θ inhibitor or vimentin siRNA disrupted vimentin and enhanced Treg metabolic and suppressive activity. Moreover, vimentin-disrupted mouse Tregs were significantly better than controls at suppressing alloreactive T cell priming in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and GVHD lethality, using a complete MHC-mismatch mouse model of acute GVHD (C57BL/6 donor into BALB/c host). Interestingly, vimentin disruption augmented the suppressor function of PKC-θ-deficient mouse Tregs. This suggests that enhanced Treg activity after PKC-θ inhibition is secondary to effects on vimentin, not just PKC-θ kinase activity inhibition. Our data demonstrate that vimentin is a key metabolic and functional controller of Treg activity and provide proof of principle that disruption of vimentin is a feasible, translationally relevant method to enhance Treg potency.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007382	Intermediate Filaments	Cytoplasmic filaments intermediate in diameter (about 10 nanometers) between the microfilaments and the microtubules. They may be composed of any of a number of different proteins and form a ring around the cell nucleus.	Tonofilaments,Neurofilaments,Filament, Intermediate,Filaments, Intermediate,Intermediate Filament,Neurofilament,Tonofilament
D008213	Lymphocyte Activation	Morphologic alteration of small B LYMPHOCYTES or T LYMPHOCYTES in culture into large blast-like cells able to synthesize DNA and RNA and to divide mitotically. It is induced by INTERLEUKINS; MITOGENS such as PHYTOHEMAGGLUTININS, and by specific ANTIGENS. It may also occur in vivo as in GRAFT REJECTION.	Blast Transformation,Blastogenesis,Lymphoblast Transformation,Lymphocyte Stimulation,Lymphocyte Transformation,Transformation, Blast,Transformation, Lymphoblast,Transformation, Lymphocyte,Activation, Lymphocyte,Stimulation, Lymphocyte
D008807	Mice, Inbred BALB C	An inbred strain of mouse that is widely used in IMMUNOLOGY studies and cancer research.	BALB C Mice, Inbred,BALB C Mouse, Inbred,Inbred BALB C Mice,Inbred BALB C Mouse,Mice, BALB C,Mouse, BALB C,Mouse, Inbred BALB C,BALB C Mice,BALB C Mouse
D008822	Mice, Transgenic	Laboratory mice that have been produced from a genetically manipulated EGG or EMBRYO, MAMMALIAN.	Transgenic Mice,Founder Mice, Transgenic,Mouse, Founder, Transgenic,Mouse, Transgenic,Mice, Transgenic Founder,Transgenic Founder Mice,Transgenic Mouse
D004195	Disease Models, Animal	Naturally-occurring or experimentally-induced animal diseases with pathological processes analogous to human diseases.	Animal Disease Model,Animal Disease Models,Disease Model, Animal
D006086	Graft vs Host Disease	The clinical entity characterized by anorexia, diarrhea, loss of hair, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, growth retardation, and eventual death brought about by the GRAFT VS HOST REACTION.	Graft-Versus-Host Disease,Homologous Wasting Disease,Runt Disease,Graft-vs-Host Disease,Disease, Graft-Versus-Host,Disease, Graft-vs-Host,Disease, Homologous Wasting,Disease, Runt,Diseases, Graft-Versus-Host,Diseases, Graft-vs-Host,Graft Versus Host Disease,Graft-Versus-Host Diseases,Graft-vs-Host Diseases
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000074121	Protein Kinase C-theta	A calcium-independent, phospholipid- and diacylglycerol-dependent, protein kinase C subtype that contains an N-terminal C2 DOMAIN and two diacylglycerol-binding ZINC FINGERS. It is expressed primarily by T-LYMPHOCYTES and localizes to IMMUNOLOGICAL SYNAPSES where it regulates downstream signaling for the activation, proliferation, and survival of mature T-cells. It plays a critical role in allergic, autoimmune, and alloimmune responses of TH2 CELLS and TH17 CELLS.	PKC-theta,PRKCQ,Protein Kinase C theta,Protein Kinase C, theta,PKC theta
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D000938	Antigen-Presenting Cells	A heterogeneous group of immunocompetent cells that mediate the cellular immune response by processing and presenting antigens to the T-cells. Traditional antigen-presenting cells include MACROPHAGES; DENDRITIC CELLS; LANGERHANS CELLS; and B-LYMPHOCYTES. FOLLICULAR DENDRITIC CELLS are not traditional antigen-presenting cells, but because they hold antigen on their cell surface in the form of IMMUNE COMPLEXES for B-cell recognition they are considered so by some authors.	Accessory Cells, Immunologic,Antigen-Presenting Cell,Immunologic Accessory Cells,Accessory Cell, Immunologic,Cell, Immunologic Accessory,Cells, Immunologic Accessory,Immunologic Accessory Cell,Antigen Presenting Cell,Antigen Presenting Cells,Cell, Antigen-Presenting,Cells, Antigen-Presenting