Journal Article

The kinase TAK1 integrates antigen and cytokine receptor signaling for T cell development, survival and function

Xie, Min, Wan, Yisong Y, Flavell, Richard A, Schneider, Michael D, Chi, Hongbo

2006

Overview

The kinase TAK1 is critical for innate and B cell immunity. The function of TAK1 in T cells is unclear, however. We show here that T cell–specific deletion of the gene encoding TAK1 resulted in reduced development of thymocytes, especially of regulatory T cells expressing the transcription factor Foxp3. In mature thymocytes, TAK1 was required for interleukin 7–mediated survival and T cell receptor–dependent activation of transcription factor NF-κB and the kinase Jnk. In effector T cells, TAK1 was dispensable for T cell receptor–dependent NF-κB activation and cytokine production, but was important for proliferation and activation of the kinase p38 in response to interleukins 2, 7 and 15. Thus, TAK1 is essential for the integration of T cell receptor and cytokine signals to regulate the development, survival and function of T cells.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group US,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Animals / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Cell Differentiation - immunology / Cell Survival - immunology / Flow Cytometry / Immunoblotting / Immunology / Infectious Diseases / Lymphocyte Activation - immunology / MAP Kinase Kinase 4 - immunology / MAP Kinase Kinase 4 - metabolism / MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases - immunology / MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases - metabolism / Mice / Mice, Transgenic / NF-kappa B - immunology / NF-kappa B - metabolism / Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - immunology / Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - metabolism / Receptors, Cytokine - immunology / Receptors, Cytokine - metabolism / Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Signal Transduction - immunology / Survival / T-Lymphocytes - cytology / T-Lymphocytes - immunology