Article abstract


Nature Immunology 8, 825 - 834 (2007)
Published online: 24 June 2007 | doi:10.1038/ni1482

Differential glycosylation of TH1, TH2 and TH-17 effector cells selectively regulates susceptibility to cell death

Marta A Toscano1,6, Germán A Bianco1,6,7, Juan M Ilarregui1,6,7, Diego O Croci1,6, Jorge Correale2, Joseph D Hernandez3, Norberto W Zwirner1,6, Francoise Poirier4, Eleanor M Riley5, Linda G Baum3 & Gabriel A Rabinovich1,6


Regulated glycosylation controls T cell processes, including activation, differentiation and homing by creating or masking ligands for endogenous lectins. Here we show that stimuli promoting T helper type 1 (TH1), TH2 or interleukin 17–producing T helper (TH-17) differentiation can differentially regulate the glycosylation pattern of T helper cells and modulate their susceptibility to galectin-1, a glycan-binding protein with anti-inflammatory activity. Although TH1- and TH-17–differentiated cells expressed the repertoire of cell surface glycans critical for galectin-1–induced cell death, TH2 cells were protected from galectin-1 through differential sialylation of cell surface glycoproteins. Consistent with those findings, galectin-1–deficient mice developed greater TH1 and TH-17 responses and enhanced susceptibility to autoimmune neuroinflammation. Our findings identify a molecular link among differential glycosylation of T helper cells, susceptibility to cell death and termination of the inflammatory response.

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  1. División de Immunogenética. Hospital de Clínicas 'José de San Martín', Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1120AAF Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  2. Departamento de Neurología, Instituto de Investigaciones Neurológicas 'Dr. Raul Carrea', C1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  3. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
  4. Institut Jacques Monod, Unités Mixtes de Recherche-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 7592, Paris 6 and Paris 7 Universities, 75251 Paris, France.
  5. Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1 E7HT, UK.
  6. Present address: Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1428ADN Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  7. These authors equally contributed to this work.

Correspondence to: Gabriel A Rabinovich1,6 e-mail: gabyrabi@ciudad.com.ar


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