MicroRNA 10a marks regulatory T cells

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Lukas T Jeker
  • Xuyu Zhou
  • Kseniya Gershberg
  • Dimitri de Kouchkovsky
  • Malika M Morar
  • Gustavo Stadthagen
  • Lund, Anders H.
  • Jeffrey A Bluestone
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial for regulatory T cell (Treg) stability and function. We report that microRNA-10a (miR-10a) is expressed in Tregs but not in other T cells including individual thymocyte subsets. Expression profiling in inbred mouse strains demonstrated that non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice with a genetic susceptibility for autoimmune diabetes have lower Treg-specific miR-10a expression than C57BL/6J autoimmune resistant mice. Inhibition of miR-10a expression in vitro leads to reduced FoxP3 expression levels and miR-10a expression is lower in unstable "exFoxP3" T cells. Unstable in vitro TGF-ß-induced, iTregs do not express miR-10a unless cultured in the presence of retinoic acid (RA) which has been associated with increased stability of iTreg, suggesting that miR-10a might play a role in stabilizing Treg. However, genetic ablation of miR-10a neither affected the number and phenotype of natural Treg nor the capacity of conventional T cells to induce FoxP3 in response to TGFβ, RA, or a combination of the two. Thus, miR-10a is selectively expressed in Treg but inhibition by antagomiRs or genetic ablation resulted in discordant effects on FoxP3.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPLOS ONE
Volume7
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)e36684
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Research areas

  • Animals, Cells, Cultured, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Gene Expression, Mice, Mice, Inbred NOD, MicroRNAs, T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory, Transforming Growth Factor beta, Tretinoin

ID: 50503769