| First Author | Munn DH | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 633-42 |
| PubMed ID | 15894280 | Mgi Jnum | J:99090 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3581098 | Doi | 10.1016/j.immuni.2005.03.013 |
| Citation | Munn DH, et al. (2005) GCN2 kinase in T cells mediates proliferative arrest and anergy induction in response to indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase. Immunity 22(5):633-42 |
| abstractText | Indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase (IDO) catabolizes the amino acid tryptophan. IDO-expressing immunoregulatory dendritic cells (DCs) have been implicated in settings including tumors, autoimmunity, and transplant tolerance. However, the downstream molecular mechanisms by which IDO functions to regulate T cell responses remain unknown. We now show that IDO-expressing plasmacytoid DCs activate the GCN2 kinase pathway in responding T cells. GCN2 is a stress-response kinase that is activated by elevations in uncharged tRNA. T cells with a targeted disruption of GCN2 were not susceptible to IDO-mediated suppression of proliferation in vitro. In vivo, proliferation of GCN2-knockout T cells was not inhibited by IDO-expressing DCs from tumor-draining lymph nodes. IDO induced profound anergy in responding wild-type T cells, but GCN2-knockout cells were refractory to IDO-induced anergy. We hypothesize that GCN2 acts as a molecular sensor in T cells, allowing them to detect and respond to conditions created by IDO. |
