Sclerostin domain-containing protein 1 is dispensable for the differentiation of follicular helper and follicular regulatory T cells during acute viral infection

Jianjun Hu; Jialin Wu; Yiding Li; Zhiming Wang; Jianfang Tang; Zhirong Li; Li Hu; Qizhao Huang; Lilin Ye; Lifan Xu

Sclerostin domain-containing protein 1 is dispensable for the differentiation of follicular helper and follicular regulatory T cells during acute viral infection

Am J Transl Res. 2019 Jun 15;11(6):3722-3736. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Jianjun Hu¹, Jialin Wu¹, Yiding Li¹, Zhiming Wang¹, Jianfang Tang¹, Zhirong Li¹, Li Hu¹, Qizhao Huang², Lilin Ye¹, Lifan Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University Chongqing 400038, China.
² Department of Oncology, General Hospital of Western Theater Command Chengdu, China.

PMID: 31312383
PMCID: PMC6614606

Abstract

T follicular helper (T_FH) cells are crucial for effective humoral immunity by providing the required signals to cognate B cells and promoting germinal center (GC) formation. Many intrinsic and extrinsic factors have been reported to be involved in the multistage, multifactorial differentiation process of T_FH cells. By comparing gene expression between T_FH cells and T_H1 cells based on published GEO data, we found selective and high expression of sclerostin domain-containing protein 1 (SOSTDC1) in T_FH cells but not in T_H1 cells; however, it is unclear whether SOSTDC1 is important for the differentiation and/or function of T_FH cells. Using a mouse model of acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection, we confirmed the selective expression of SOSTDC1 in T_FH cells compared to that in T_H1 cells, but the ablation of SOSTDC1 did not affect T_FH cell differentiation or effector function. Thus, our results indicate that the SOSTDC1 protein is merely a specific marker of T_FH cells but does not play a functional role in the differentiation of T_FH cells during acute viral infection.

Keywords: Acute infection; SOSTDC1; TFH cell.