Fibrotic liver microenvironment promotes Dll4 and SDF-1-dependent T-cell lineage development

Cell Death Dis. 2019 Jun 5;10(6):440. doi: 10.1038/s41419-019-1630-1.

Abstract

The reconstitution of the T-cell repertoire and quantity is a major challenge in the clinical management of HIV infection/AIDS, cancer, and aging-associated diseases. We previously showed that autologous bone marrow transfusion (BMT) via the hepatic portal vein could effectively restore CD4+ T-cell count in AIDS patients also suffering from decompensated liver cirrhosis. In the current study, we characterized T-cell reconstitution in a mouse model of liver fibrosis induced by CCl4 and found that T-cell reconstitution after BMT via hepatic portal vein was also greatly enhanced. The expression of Dll4 (Delta-like 4), which plays an important role in T-cell progenitor expansion, was elevated in hepatocytes of fibrotic livers when compared to normal livers. This upregulation of Dll4 expression was found to be induced by TNFα in an NFκB-dependent manner. Liver fibroblasts transfected with Dll4 (LF-Dll4) also gained the capacity to promote T-cell lineage development from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), resulting in the generation of DN2 (CD4 and CD8 DN 2) and DN3 T-cell progenitors in vitro, which underwent a normal maturation program when adoptively transferred into Rag-2 deficient hosts. We also demonstrated a pivotal role of SDF-1 produced by primary liver fibroblasts (primary LF) in T-lineage differentiation from HSCs. These results suggest that Dll4 and SDF-1 in fibrotic liver microenvironment could promote extrathymic T-cell lineage development. These results expand our knowledge of T-cell development and reconstitution under pathological conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / genetics
  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow Transplantation
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Carbon Tetrachloride
  • Cell Differentiation* / genetics
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Chemokine CXCL12 / genetics
  • Chemokine CXCL12 / metabolism*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism
  • HIV Infections / metabolism
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Hepatocytes / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Liver Cirrhosis / chemically induced
  • Liver Cirrhosis / genetics
  • Liver Cirrhosis / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • NF-kappa B / genetics
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • NIH 3T3 Cells
  • T-Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / metabolism

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins
  • Chemokine CXCL12
  • Cxcl12 protein, mouse
  • DLL4 protein, mouse
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • NF-kappa B
  • Rag2 protein, mouse
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
  • Carbon Tetrachloride