| First Author | Otten LA | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 170 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 1150-7 |
| PubMed ID | 12538670 | Mgi Jnum | J:152062 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:4355824 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.170.3.1150 |
| Citation | Otten LA, et al. (2003) Deregulated MHC class II transactivator expression leads to a strong Th2 bias in CD4+ T lymphocytes. J Immunol 170(3):1150-7 |
| abstractText | The MHC class II (MHC-II) transactivator (CIITA) is the master transcriptional regulator of genes involved in MHC-II-restricted Ag presentation. Fine tuning of CIITA gene expression determines the cell type-specific expression of MHC-II genes. This regulation is achieved by the selective usage of multiple CIITA promoters. It has recently been suggested that CIITA also contributes to Th cell differentiation by suppressing IL-4 expression in Th1 cells. In this study, we show that endogenous CIITA is expressed at low levels in activated mouse T cells. Importantly CIITA is not regulated differentially in murine and human Th1 and Th2 cells. Ectopic expression of a CIITA transgene in multiple mouse cell types including T cells, does not interfere with normal development of CD4(+) T cells. However, upon TCR activation the CIITA transgenic CD4(+) T cells preferentially differentiate into IL-4-secreting Th2-type cells. These results imply that CIITA is not a direct Th1-specific repressor of the IL-4 gene and that tight control over the expression of CIITA and MHC-II is required to maintain the normal balance between Th1 and Th2 responses. |
