Th1 cells are prominent in inflamed tissue, survive conventional immunosuppression, and are believed to play a pivotal role in driving chronic inflammation. Here, we identify homeobox only protein (Hopx) as a critical and selective regulator of the survival of Th1 effector/memory cells, both in vitro and in vivo. Expression of Hopx is induced by T-bet and increases upon repeated antigenic restimulation of Th1 cells. Accordingly, the expression of Hopx is low in peripheral, naïve Th cells, but highly up-regulated in terminally differentiated effector/memory Th1 cells of healthy human donors. In murine Th1 cells, Hopx regulates the expression of genes involved in regulation of apoptosis and survival and makes them refractory to Fas-induced apoptosis. In vivo, adoptively transferred Hopxdeficient murine Th1 cells do not persist. Consequently, they cannot induce chronic inflammation in murine models of transfer-induced colitis and arthritis, demonstrating a key role of Hopx for Th1-mediated immunopathology.Key words: Cell survival . CD4 T cells . Inflammation . Memory cells
Supporting Information available onlineIntroduction T-helper type 1 (Th1) cells mediate immune responses to intracellular pathogens, such as viruses, and produce IFN-g as their signature cytokine [1]. IFN-g, together with IL-12 and the transcription factors STAT1, STAT4 and T-bet, promotes the development of Th1 cells [2][3]. T-bet (T-box 21) is considered to act as the master transcription factor critically regulating Th1 lineage commitment [3][4][5]. Apart from their protective role in clearing infections, Th1 cells can initiate and maintain chronic inflammatory diseases, e.g. inflammatory bowel disease [6][7][8][9], uveitis [10], EAE [11,12] and arthritis [13]. In vitro, Th1 cells are much more sensitive to Fas-mediated apoptosis than Th2 or Th17 cells [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. In vivo, however, effector/memory Th1 cells are abundant in chronically inflamed tissue [21][22][23] and persist over long time periods [24][25][26], suggesting that their sensitivity to Eur. J. Immunol. 2010. 40: 2993-3006 DOI 10.1002 HIGHLIGHTS 2993
FrontlineFas-mediated apoptosis is strictly regulated. Here, we demonstrate that among CD4 1 T cells, the transcriptional cofactor homeobox only protein (Hopx) is expressed by repeatedly restimulated Th1 cells, but not by Th2, Th17 or regulatory T cells. Hopx regulates Fas-mediated apoptosis of effector/memory Th1 cells and is critically required for their persistence in vivo.In vertebrates, Hopx expression originally was detected in the myocardium [27,28]. There, expression of Hopx is induced by the cardiac transcription factor Nkx2-5. Hopx-deficient mice show a complex, incompletely penetrant phenotype. Some Hopxdeficient embryos have a poorly developed myocardium with reduced cell numbers, others show normal, and still others show increased numbers of cardiomyocytes after birth [27,28]. Hopx does not bind to homeobox consensus binding sequences, and it has been postulated that Hopx acts indirectly, partnering with ...