| First Author | Mailer RKW | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | Sci Rep | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 15655 |
| PubMed ID | 29142309 | Mgi Jnum | J:288100 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6415790 | Doi | 10.1038/s41598-017-15546-8 |
| Citation | Mailer RKW, et al. (2017) Hypercholesterolemia Enhances T Cell Receptor Signaling and Increases the Regulatory T Cell Population. Sci Rep 7(1):15655 |
| abstractText | Hypercholesterolemia promotes the inflammation against lipoproteins in atherosclerosis. Development of atherosclerosis is affected by the balance between pro-inflammatory effector T cells and anti-inflammatory regulatory T (Treg) cells. However, phenotype and function of T cell subpopulations in hypercholesterolemia remain to be investigated. Here, we found that cholesterol-containing diet increased the expression of the Treg cell lineage-defining transcription factor FoxP3 among thymocytes and splenocytes. Hypercholesterolemia elevated the FoxP3 expression level and population size of peripheral Treg cells, but did not prevent enhanced proliferation of stimulated T cells. Moreover, cholesterol supplementation in diet as well as in cell culture medium promoted T cell antigen receptor (TCR) signaling in CD4+ T cells. Our results demonstrate that hypercholesterolemia enhances TCR stimulation, Treg cell development as well as T cell proliferation. Thus, our findings may help to understand why hypercholesterolemia correlates with altered CD4+ T cell responses. |
