Abstract
The RNaseIII enzyme Dicer is required for mature microRNA production. Although extensive investigation has been carried out to determine the role of Dicer/miRNAs in the immune system, their function in mature CD8+ T cells has not been examined. We deleted Dicer in mature polyclonal and TCR transgenic CD8+ T cells using either tat-cre or the distal lck promoter, which drives cre expression after the stage of positive selection. Following antigenic challenge by a pathogen infection in vivo, Dicer-deleted CD8+ T cells failed to accumulate at the usual peak of the response. Surprisingly however, we found that deletion of Dicer in mature CD8+ T cells allowed them to respond more rapidly than control cells to TCR stimuli in vitro. In response to anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 stimulation, Dicer-deleted T cells up-regulated CD69 faster and entered the first mitosis earlier than control T cells. In addition, activated Dicer-/- cells failed to rapidly down-regulate CD69 when removed from the TCR stimulus. As a probable consequence of this sustained CD69 expression, Dicer-/- T cells showed defective migration out of the central lymphoid organs in vivo. We identify miR-130/301, which are dramatically up-regulated following T-cell activation as able to down-regulate CD69 expressio n via bindingto a conserved site in the 3'UTR of CD69 mRNA. Thus, cellular functions dependent on Dicer expression are not required for the early steps in CD8+ T-cell activation, but are essential for their survival and accumulation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 21629-21634 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 107 |
Issue number | 50 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 14 2010 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Listeria
- Tat-cre
- Vesicular stomatitis virus
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General