Journal: Circulation research
Article Title: Atherosclerosis-Driven Treg Plasticity Results in Formation of a Dysfunctional Subset of Plastic IFNγ + Th1/Tregs
doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.116.309764
Figure Lengend Snippet: Splenic CD4+ T cells were isolated from aged Apoe−/−, Foxp3eGFP, or Foxp3Yfp-cre/Yfp-creR26RtdTomato/tdTomato Apoe−/− and Foxp3Yfp-cre/Yfp-creR26RtdTomato/tdTomato C57Bl6 mice and the following subsets were purified for T cell suppression assays: CCR5− Tregs, CCR5+ Th1/Tregs, Foxp3eGFP+ Tregs, CCR5+ Th1, CD4+Foxp3− CFSE-labeled T responders (Tresp), and CD4-depleted splenocytes (APCs). (A-K) Representative IFNγ, Foxp3, CCR5, or isotype control staining. Isotype controls for IFNγ (A), and CCR5 (G). IFNγ staining within CD4+Foxp3+-gated Apoe−/− CCR5+ Th1/Treg (B), CCR5− Treg (C), C57Bl6 Foxp3GFP+ Treg (D), Apoe−/− CCR5+ Th1 (E) post sort isolates, and the CD4+ Apoe−/− pre-sort population (F). (H-K) Representative CCR5 staining for CCR5+ Th1/Treg (H), CCR5− Treg (I), C57Bl6 Foxp3GFP+ Treg (J), and CCR5+ Th1 (K) post sort isolates. (L,M,N) T cell suppression assay results. Comparison of (L) Apoe−/− and C57Bl6 CCR5− Tregs, (M) C57Bl6 CCR5− Tregs, C57Bl6 CCR5− Tregs spiked with Apoe−/− Th1 cells, and Apoe−/− CCR5+ Th1/Tregs in the suppression assays. (N) The mean suppressive ability of Apoe−/− CCR5− Tregs and Apoe−/− CCR5+ Th1/Tregs as a percentage of C57Bl6 CCR5− Treg suppression (n=6 independent experiments). (O) Sorted CD4+Foxp3+CCR5+ Tregs (Treg/Th1) and CD4+Foxp3+CCR5− Treg cells from aged 40 week-old chow diet Foxp3Yfp-cre/Yfp-CreR26RtdTomato/tdTomatoApoe−/− mice were processed for Il10, Tgfβ, and Ebi3 expression (n=4/ per cell type). The mean±SEM is shown. **-p<0.01, NS–not significant, Bonferroni-holm-corrected unpaired student’s T tests.
Article Snippet: While the elevated Ebi3 expression data are interesting and may potentially reflect a compensatory mechanism, our flow cytometry, RNAseq , RT-PCR phenotyping and cellular assays of Th1/Tregs is consistent with a non-suppressive role for these cells, suggesting that the upregulation of Ebi3 is insufficient to restore the suppressive functionality to Th1/Tregs. fig ft0 fig mode=article f1 fig/graphic|fig/alternatives/graphic mode="anchored" m1 Open in a separate window Figure 7 caption a7 caption a8 scRNA-seq reveals down-regulation of multiple Treg immunosuppressive genes within plastic Th1/Tregs Sorted 40 week old Apoe −/− splenic CD4 + CD73 + PD1 + CD25 + CCR5 + T cells were used to create single cell libraries for Fluidigm C1-based SMARTer RNA-Seq ( Supplemental Fig. 3 , n=3-4 mice/experiment, 6 experiments, 270 single T cell libraries).
Techniques: Isolation, Purification, Labeling, Control, Staining, Suppression Assay, Comparison, Expressing