Transcription factor hijacking in the name of tolerance

Immanuel Rode; Hans-Reimer Rodewald

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.06.026

Transcription factor hijacking in the name of tolerance

Cell. 2022 Jul 7;185(14):2398-2400. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.06.026.

Authors

Immanuel Rode¹, Hans-Reimer Rodewald²

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Clinical Transfusion Medicine and Immunogenetics, D-89081 Ulm, Germany.
² Division of Cellular Immunology, German Cancer Research Center, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: hr.rodewald@dkfz.de.

PMID: 35803243
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.06.026

Abstract

Thymus epithelial cells (TECs) express antigens from peripheral tissues to select against autoreactive T cells and thus prevent autoimmunity. Michelsen et al. now show that molecularly defined clusters of thymic epithelial cells express and depend on skin-, lung-, liver- or intestinal-cell transcription factors that are co-opted by the thymus to drive ectopic gene expression.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Autoimmunity
Epithelial Cells / metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation
Immune Tolerance*
T-Lymphocytes
Thymus Gland / metabolism
Transcription Factors* / genetics
Transcription Factors* / metabolism

Substances

Transcription Factors