Key points:
- Researchers from the Turner lab have published the first description of the role of the ZFP36 family of RNA binding proteins in regulatory T cells (Tregs).
- Tregs are key to maintaining balance in the immune system and essential to preventing autoimmune disease.
- By the targeted deletion of Zfp36l1 and Zfp36l2 in Tregs in mice, the findings demonstrate that loss of these RNA binding proteins results in Tregs no longer being able to control other immune cell types, which results in inflammation.
- The data point to a key role of ZFP36L1 and ZFP36L2 in governing multiple cytokine responses in Tregs, including regulating the availability of the cytokine interferon-gamma, which activates immune responses, as well as being important in maintaining Treg stability.
Immunologists from the Institute have been the first to uncover a role for a family of RNA binding proteins in the function of regulatory T cells in the immune system. As their name suggests, regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a key role in modulating the immune system response, regulating the strength of the response by limiting the function of immune effector cells, such as ‘killer’ T cells. The research sheds important light on how the immune system maintains balance and forms the foundation for a greater understanding of age-related inflammation.
The Turner lab at the Institute is leading research into the role of RNA binding proteins in the function of the immune system to help us understand healthy ageing.
The group’s previous work has uncovered key knowledge about the role of the Zinc Finger Protein 36 (ZFP36) family of RNA binding proteins in the differentiation and activity of other T cell subsets but this is the first time their role in Tregs has been explored. Turner lab members Dr Beatriz-Sáenz-Narciso (postdoctoral researcher) and Dr Sarah Bell (senior research associate) led the latest research.
Sarah explained the importance and potential of understanding more about the regulation of the immune response by Tregs: “Regulatory T cells play a critical role in maintaining balance in the immune system. We know that low level chronic inflammation increases with age and the age-related decline in immune system function may contribute to this. In order to gain insights into how inflammation is regulated during ageing, and to inform the development of therapeutics to address chronic inflammation when this process goes wrong, it is important to determine how stability within the immune system is maintained.”
Credit: The Babraham Institute