期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2016
卷号：113
期号：31
页码：8771-8776
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1502166113
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The role of cereblon (CRBN) in T cells is not well understood. We generated mice with a deletion in Crbn and found cereblon to be an important antagonist of T-cell activation. In mice lacking CRBN, CD4+ T cells show increased activation and IL-2 production on T-cell receptor stimulation, ultimately resulting in increased potassium flux and calcium-mediated signaling. CRBN restricts T-cell activation via epigenetic modification of Kcna3, which encodes the Kv1.3 potassium channel required for robust calcium influx in T cells. CRBN binds directly to conserved DNA elements adjacent to Kcna3 via a previously uncharacterized DNA-binding motif. Consequently, in the absence of CRBN, the expression of Kv1.3 is derepressed, resulting in increased Kv1.3 expression, potassium flux, and CD4+ T-cell hyperactivation. In addition, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in T-cell–specific Crbn-deficient mice was exacerbated by increased T-cell activation via Kv1.3. Thus, CRBN limits CD4+ T-cell activation via epigenetic regulation of Kv1.3 expression.
