The mechanisms of development and differentiation in Valpha14 NKT cells

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23229005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Immunology
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Taniguchi Masaru 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 統合生命医科学研究センター, グループディレクター (80110310)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KOJO Satoshi 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 統合生命医科学研究センター, 上級研究員 (70360542) ; HARADA Michishige 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 統合生命医科学研究センター, 研究員 (20333487)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: NKT細胞サブタイプ / NKT細胞特異的転写因子 / NKT細胞新規分化経路 / エピゲノム解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Natural killer T (NKT) cells are characterized by the expression of the single invariant Va14 receptor recognizing glycolipid antigens in the association with monomorphic CD1d molecule. However, their developmental pathway and molecular basis of their development remain unclear.
Here, we identified the novel developmental pathway for NKT cells directly generated from late DN stage precursors bypassing through DP stage and mainly migrated to the liver, but not to the fat, mesenteric lymphnode and lamina propria, where DP-derived NKT cells are migrated. We also found that 15 transcription factors, including Ring family proteins, were selectively expressed in DN-derived preNKT cells without surface Va14 receptor. Some of these TFs were shown to be responsible for NKT cell development in their knock-out mice. In addition, we succeeded to detect alteration of epigenetic modification responsible gene loci that regulate NKT cell development and function during NKT cell development.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学