Abstract

Human FOXP3+CD25+CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential to the maintenance of immune homeostasis. Several genes are known to be important for murine Tregs, but for human Tregs the genes and underlying molecular networks controlling the suppressor function still largely remain unclear. Here, we describe a strategy to identify the key genes directly from an undirected correlation network which we reconstruct from a very high time-resolution (HTR) transcriptome during the activation of human Tregs/CD4+ T-effector cells. We show that a predicted top-ranked new key gene PLAU (the plasminogen activator urokinase) is important for the suppressor function of both human and murine Tregs. Further analysis unveils that PLAU is particularly important for memory Tregs and that PLAU mediates Treg suppressor function via STAT5 and ERK signaling pathways. Our study demonstrates the potential for identifying novel key genes for complex dynamic biological processes using a network strategy based on HTR data, and reveals a critical role for PLAU in Treg suppressor function.

Details

Title
PLAU inferred from a correlation network is critical for suppressor function of regulatory T cells
Author
He, Feng 1 ; Chen, Hairong 2 ; Probst-Kepper, Michael 3 ; Geffers, Robert 4 ; Eifes, Serge 5 ; Antonio del Sol 5 ; Schughart, Klaus 2 ; An-Ping Zeng 6 ; Balling, Rudi 5 

 Department of Infection Genetics, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Braunschweig, Germany; Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg 
 Department of Infection Genetics, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Braunschweig, Germany 
 Institute of Microbiology, Immunology and Hospital Hygiene, Städtisches Klinikum Braunschweig GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany 
 Department of Cell Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany 
 Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg 
 Group of Systems Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany; Institute of Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany 
Section
Article
Publication year
2012
Publication date
2012
Publisher
EMBO Press
e-ISSN
17444292
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2299172375
Copyright
© 2012. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.