March 28, 2024

T Cells: No Time To Die – At the Forefront in the Fight Against Viruses, Bacteria, and Malignant Cells

Coronin 1 makes it possible for long-lasting survival
In earlier research, Pieters team and others had revealed that coronin 1 is vital for the survival of peripheral T cells while being dispensable for their production and maturation. In their existing study, the team has now been able to show that paths formerly thought to be implicated in T cell survival remained in reality independent of coronin 1, and they additionally revealed an unknown coronin 1-driven signaling path that regulates T cell survival.
To hunt down this coronin 1-dependent pathway, the scientists established a procedure to gather extremely pure T cells and consequently evaluated the whole set of RNA molecules in typical and coronin 1-deficient T cells. “So, I decided to utilize the home-office time to sift through the many tables and lists of genes to see if there were any connections with recognized signaling pathways whose deregulation might describe the disappearance of T cells upon coronin 1 deficiency.”
Researchers reveal unrecognized pathway
Strikingly, there was a positive match connecting coronin 1-dependent T cell survival to a pathway involving the adjustment of the plasma membrane structure by the lipid kinase PI3Kdelta. Together with PI3K expert Professor Matthias Wyman at the Department of Biomedicine, the scientists were able to create the pieces of the puzzle, resulting in their awareness that coronin 1 keeps PI3Kdelta activity and, in this way, reduces T cell death.
” It will now be interesting to act on these findings, not only to understand the function of other members of the coronin protein family in cell survival, however likewise how cell populations, such as distributing T cells in blood, are being preserved long-lasting,” says Pieters. Provided the value of T cells for regulating processes as varied as viral and microbial pathogen resistance, autoimmunity, and tumorigenicity, this work might contribute to a much better control of both appropriate as well as undesirable T cell activities.
Reference: “Suppression of caspase 8 activity by a coronin 1– PI3Kδ path promotes T cell survival separately of TCR and IL-7 signaling” by Mayumi Mori, Julie Ruer-Laventie, Wandrille Duchemin, Philippe Demougin, Tohnyui Ndinyanka Fabrice, Matthias P. Wymann and Jean Pieters, 21 December 2021, Science Signaling.DOI: 10.1126/ scisignal.abj0057.

They are at the leading edge in the fight versus infections, germs, and deadly cells: the T cells of our immune system. These cells keep viruses, bacteria, parasites and cancerous cells at bay. While T cell production is an active procedure in infants, kids and young grownups, it comes to a gradual stop upon aging, indicating that in order to maintain adequate resistance up to an old age, your T cells ought to better live as long as you.
To hunt down this coronin 1-dependent path, the researchers developed a treatment to collect highly pure T cells and consequently evaluated the whole set of RNA particles in typical and coronin 1-deficient T cells.

Coronin 1 promotes long-lasting survival of the T cells of our immune system. Credit: Nano Imaging Lab SNI/Biozentrum, University of Basel
They are at the leading edge in the battle versus viruses, bacteria, and malignant cells: the T cells of our immune system. Scientists at the University of Basel have now uncovered a previously unidentified signaling path necessary for T cell viability.
These cells keep viruses, germs, parasites and malignant cells at bay. While T cell production is an active process in babies, kids and young adults, it comes to a progressive stop upon aging, meaning that in order to maintain adequate resistance up to an old age, your T cells must much better live as long as you.
How T cells handle to survive for such a long period of time, up to a number of years in human beings, has actually long stayed unclear. In collaboration with researchers at the Department of Biomedicine and sciCORE, the Center for Scientific Computing of the University of Basel, Professor Jean Pieters research study group at the Biozentrum has actually now revealed the existence of a hitherto unrecognized path promoting long-term survival of T cells. In Science Signaling they report that this signaling path, controlled by the protein coronin 1, is accountable for suppressing T cell death.