Browsing by Subject "Natural Killer T-Cells"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Immune evasion of the CD1d/NKT cell axis
    (Elsevier, 2018-06) Brutkiewicz, Randy R.; Yunes-Medina, Laura; Liu, Jianyun; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    Many reviews on the CD1d/NKT cell axis focus on the ability of CD1d-restricted NKT cells to serve as effector cells in a variety of disorders, be they infectious diseases, cancer or autoimmunity. In contrast, here, we discuss the ways that viruses, bacteria and tumor cells can evade the CD1d/NKT cell axis. As a result, these disease states have a better chance to establish a foothold and potentially cause problems for the subsequent adaptive immune response, as the host tries to rid itself of infections or tumors.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The transcription factor BCL-6 controls early development of innate-like T cells
    (Springer Nature, 2020-09) Gioulbasani, Marianthi; Galaras, Alexandros; Grammenoudi, Sofia; Moulos, Panagiotis; Dent, Alexander L.; Sigvardsson, Mikael; Hatzis, Pantelis; Kee, Barbara L.; Verykokakis, Mihalis; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    Innate T cells, including invariant natural killer T (iNKT) and mucosal-associated innate T (MAIT) cells, are a heterogeneous T lymphocyte population with effector properties preprogrammed during their thymic differentiation. How this program is initiated is currently unclear. Here, we show that the transcription factor BCL-6 was transiently expressed in iNKT cells upon exit from positive selection and was required for their proper development beyond stage 0. Notably, development of MAIT cells was also impaired in the absence of Bcl6. BCL-6-deficient iNKT cells had reduced expression of genes that were associated with the innate T cell lineage, including Zbtb16, which encodes PLZF, and PLZF-targeted genes. BCL-6 contributed to a chromatin accessibility landscape that was permissive for the expression of development-related genes and inhibitory for genes associated with naive T cell programs. Our results revealed new functions for BCL-6 and illuminated how this transcription factor controls early iNKT cell development.