Journal Article

Reduced expression of phosphatase PTPN2 promotes pathogenic conversion of Tregs in autoimmunity

Panwar, Bharat, Sakaguchi, Shimon, Tiganis, Tony, Vijayanand, Pandurangan, Doody, Karen M., Bhattacharyya, Sourya, Kronenberg, Mitchell, Svensson, Mattias N.D., Tremblay, Michel L., Bottini, Nunzio, Ay, Ferhat, Gujar, Ravindra, Kiosses, William B., Kim, Gisen, Yang, Shen, Schmiedel, Benjamin J., Aubry, Isabelle, Santelli, Eugenio, Wu, Dennis J., Wiede, Florian, Seumois, Gregory, Mydel, Piotr, Sacchetti, Cristiano

2019

Overview

Genetic variants at the PTPN2 locus, which encodes the tyrosine phosphatase PTPN2, cause reduced gene expression and are linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune diseases. PTPN2 inhibits signaling through the T cell and cytokine receptors, and loss of PTPN2 promotes T cell expansion and CD4- and CD8-driven autoimmunity. However, it remains unknown whether loss of PTPN2 in FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) plays a role in autoimmunity. Here we aimed to model human autoimmune-predisposing PTPN2 variants, the presence of which results in a partial loss of PTPN2 expression, in mouse models of RA. We identified that reduced expression of Ptpn2 enhanced the severity of autoimmune arthritis in the T cell-dependent SKG mouse model and demonstrated that this phenotype was mediated through a Treg-intrinsic mechanism. Mechanistically, we found that through dephosphorylation of STAT3, PTPN2 inhibits IL-6-driven pathogenic loss of FoxP3 after Tregs have acquired RORγt expression, at a stage when chromatin accessibility for STAT3-targeted IL-17-associated transcription factors is maximized. We conclude that PTPN2 promotes FoxP3 stability in mouse RORγt+ Tregs and that loss of function of PTPN2 in Tregs contributes to the association between PTPN2 and autoimmunity.

• Publisher: American Society for Clinical Investigation
• Subject: Animal models / Animals / Arthritis / Arthritis, Rheumatoid - genetics / Arthritis, Rheumatoid - immunology / Arthritis, Rheumatoid - pathology / Autoimmune diseases / Autoimmunity / B cells / Biochemistry / Biomedical research / CD4 antigen / CD8 antigen / Chromatin / Cytokine receptors / Cytokines / Dephosphorylation / Disease / Disease Models, Animal / DNA binding proteins / Female / Forkhead Transcription Factors - genetics / Forkhead Transcription Factors - immunology / Foxp3 protein / Gene expression / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genetic diversity / Haplotypes / Immunoregulation / Inflammation / Interleukin 6 / Interleukin-17 - genetics / Interleukin-17 - immunology / Interleukin-6 - genetics / Interleukin-6 - immunology / Kinases / Lymphocytes / Lymphocytes T / Mice / Mice, Inbred BALB C / Mice, Knockout / Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 1, Group F, Member 3 - genetics / Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 1, Group F, Member 3 - immunology / Phenols (Class of compounds) / Phenotypes / Phosphatase / Phosphatases / Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase, Non-Receptor Type 2 - genetics / Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase, Non-Receptor Type 2 - immunology / Protein-tyrosine-phosphatase / Proteins / PTPN2 protein / Rheumatoid arthritis / Rheumatoid factor / Stat3 protein / STAT3 Transcription Factor - genetics / STAT3 Transcription Factor - immunology / T cell receptors / T cells / T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - immunology / T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - pathology / Transcription factors / Tyrosine