2. Academic Validation
  3. iNKT subsets differ in their developmental and functional requirements on Foxo1

iNKT subsets differ in their developmental and functional requirements on Foxo1

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Nov 16;118(46):e2105950118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2105950118.
Huimin Zhang 1,  Yuwei Zhang 1,  Jun Pan 1,  Qielan Wu 1,  Yuanyuan Huang 1,  Shiyu Bai 1,  Chenxi Tian 1,  Mingzhao Zhu 2,  Zhexiong Lian 3,  Fengyin Li 4,  Zhigang Tian 4,  Li Bai 5 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Oncology of the First Affiliated Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
  • 3 Institutes for Life Sciences and School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
  • 4 Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
  • 5 Department of Oncology of the First Affiliated Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China; [email protected].
PMID: 34772808 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105950118
Abstract

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells play important roles in regulating immune responses. Based on cytokine profiling and key transcriptional factors, iNKT cells are classified into iNKT1, iNKT2, and iNKT17 subsets. However, whether the development and functions of these subsets are controlled by distinct mechanisms remains unclear. Here, we show that forkhead box protein O1 (Foxo1) promotes differentiation of iNKT1 and iNKT2 cells but not iNKT17 cells because of its distinct contributions to IL7R expression in these subsets. Nuclear Foxo1 is essential for Il7r expression in iNKT1 and iNKT2 cells at early stages of differentiation but is dispensable in iNKT17 cells. RORγt, instead of Foxo1, promotes IL7R expression in iNKT17 cells. Additionally, Foxo1 is required for the effector function of iNKT1 and iNKT2 cells but not iNKT17 cells. Cytoplasmic Foxo1 promotes activation of mTORC1 in iNKT1 and iNKT2 cells through inhibiting TSC1-TSC2 interaction, whereas it is dispensable for mTORC1 activation in iNKT17 cells. iNKT17 cells display distinct metabolic gene expression patterns from iNKT1 and iNKT2 cells that match their different functional requirements on Foxo1. Together, our results demonstrate that iNKT cell subsets differ in their developmental and functional requirements on Foxo1.

Keywords

Foxo1; TSC2; development; function; iNKT subsets.

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