Lupus Susceptibility Gene Esrrg Modulates Regulatory T Cells Through Mitochondrial Metabolism

Overview

Journal JCI Insight

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
General Medicine

Date 2021 Jun 22

PMID 34156979

Citations 14

Authors

Wei Li

Minghao Gong

Yuk Pheel Park

Ahmed S Elshikha

Seung-Chul Choi

Josephine Brown

Nathalie Kanda

Wen-I Yeh

Leeana Peters

Anton A Titov

Xiangyu Teng

Todd M Brusko

Laurence Morel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Estrogen-related receptor γ (Esrrg) is a murine lupus susceptibility gene associated with T cell activation. Here, we report that Esrrg controls Tregs through mitochondria homeostasis. Esrrg deficiency impaired the maintenance and function of Tregs, leading to global T cell activation and autoimmunity in aged mice. Further, Esrrg-deficient Tregs presented an impaired differentiation into follicular Tregs that enhanced follicular helper T cells' responses. Mechanistically, Esrrg-deficient Tregs presented with dysregulated mitochondria with decreased oxygen consumption as well as ATP and NAD+ production. In addition, Esrrg-deficient Tregs exhibited decreased phosphatidylinositol and TGF-β signaling pathways and increased mTOR complex 1 activation. We found that the expression of human ESRRG, which is high in Tregs, was lower in CD4+ T cells from patients with lupus than in healthy controls. Finally, knocking down ESRRG in Jurkat T cells decreased their metabolism. Together, our results reveal a critical role of Esrrg in the maintenance and metabolism of Tregs, which may provide a genetic link between lupus pathogenesis and mitochondrial dysfunction in T cells.

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