BioProject

The goal of the study was to identify the genes which are regulated by Interleukin-2 in the CD4+ T cells of the scurfy mice during regulatory T-cell deficiency. More...

The goal of the study was to identify the genes which are regulated by Interleukin-2 in the CD4+ T cells of the scurfy mice during regulatory T-cell deficiency. Scurfy (Sf) mice bear a mutation in the forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) transcription factor, lack regulatory T-cells (Treg), develop multi-organ inflammation, and die prematurely. The major target organs affected are skin, lungs, and liver. Sf mice lacking the Il2 gene (Sf.Il2-/-), despite devoid of Treg, did not develop skin and lung inflammation, but the inflammation in liver, pancreas, submandibular gland and colon remained. Genome-wide microarray analysis revealed hundreds of genes were differentially regulated among Sf, Sf.Il2-/-, and B6 CD4+ T-cells but the most changes were those encoding receptors for trafficking/chemotaxis/retention and lymphokines. Our study suggests that IL-2 controls the skin and lung inflammation in Sf mice in an apparent "organ-specific" manner through two novel mechanisms: by regulating the expression of genes encoding receptors for T-cell trafficking/chemotaxis/retention and by regulating Th2 cell expansion and lymphokine production. Thus, IL-2 is a master regulator for multi-organ inflammation and an underlying etiological factor for various diseases associated with skin and lung inflammation. Methods: CD4+ T cells were purified by Fluorescence Assisted Cell Sorting from the peripheral lymph nodes of (A) three individual Scurfy (Sf; B6.Cg-Foxp3sf/J) male mice, (B) three individual Sf.Il2-/- male mice (Scurfy mice carrying a null Interleukin (IL)-2 gene (B6.129P2-Il2tm1Hor/J)) and (C) a pooled sample of lymph nodes from two B6 (C57BL/6J) mice. All the mice were 3 weeks old. Total RNA was prepared using RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen). RNA samples were converted to cRNA, labeled and hybridized to Affymetrix Mouse 430_2 chips (Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Array, Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA) at the University of Virginia DNA Sciences Core Facility. Overall design: 1. RNA from CD4+ T cells purified from pooled peripheral lymph nodes of two 3-week old B6 mice) - 1 biological replicate 2. RNA from CD4+ T-cells purified from peripheral lymph nodes of 3-week old scurfy (Sf) mice - 3 biological replicates. 3. RNA from CD4+ T cells purified from peripheral lymph nodes of Sf.Il2-/- mice - 3 biological replicates. Less...