Posttranscriptional events guarantee immediate T cell responses

Researchers of the group of Monika Wolkers recently uncovered how a key signalling molecule, Protein Kinase C (PKC) drives the cytokine production upon T cell activation. They showed that the production of each cytokine differently relies on transcription from the genome into RNA, the stability of the RNA templates, and the translation of RNA into protein, and that PKC plays a cytokine-specific role herein. They also described how signalling strength can alter the composition of the cytokines that are produced upon T cell activation.  

T cells are critical to clear infected cells and kill tumor cells. Effective T cell responses require the combined production effector molecules, such as cytokines. Therefore, vaccine strategies aim to generate these so-called polyfunctional T cells. However, the signals and the underlying mechansims that drive cytokine production upon T cell activation are not well defined.

These new fundamental findings on T cell biology not only provide insights in how the T cell effector function is determined. They also can help to define the most efficient strategies to generate effective T cell responses against pathogens, and tumors. The research is published in Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, and was conducted in collaboration with Marieke von Lindern, head of the Department of Hematopoiesis, Sanquin.

Publication

Distinct PKC-mediated posttranscriptional events set cytokine production kinetics in CD8+ T cells. Salerno F, Paolini NA, Stark R, von Lindern M, Wolkers MC. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2017 Sep 5;114(36):9677-9682