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Pathogenic conversion of Foxp3+ T cells into TH17 cells in autoimmune arthritis

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Abstract

Autoimmune diseases often result from an imbalance between regulatory T (Treg) cells and interleukin-17 (IL-17)-producing T helper (TH17) cells; the origin of the latter cells remains largely unknown. Foxp3 is indispensable for the suppressive function of Treg cells, but the stability of Foxp3 has been under debate. Here we show that TH17 cells originating from Foxp3+ T cells have a key role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune arthritis. Under arthritic conditions, CD25loFoxp3+CD4+ T cells lose Foxp3 expression (herein called exFoxp3 cells) and undergo transdifferentiation into TH17 cells. Fate mapping analysis showed that IL-17–expressing exFoxp3 T (exFoxp3 TH17) cells accumulated in inflamed joints. The conversion of Foxp3+CD4+ T cells to TH17 cells was mediated by synovial fibroblast-derived IL-6. These exFoxp3 TH17 cells were more potent osteoclastogenic T cells than were naive CD4+ T cell–derived TH17 cells. Notably, exFoxp3 TH17 cells were characterized by the expression of Sox4, chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 6 (CCR6), chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20 (CCL20), IL-23 receptor (IL-23R) and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL, also called TNFSF11). Adoptive transfer of autoreactive, antigen-experienced CD25loFoxp3+CD4+ T cells into mice followed by secondary immunization with collagen accelerated the onset and increased the severity of arthritis and was associated with the loss of Foxp3 expression in the majority of transferred T cells. We observed IL-17+Foxp3+ T cells in the synovium of subjects with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which suggests that plastic Foxp3+ T cells contribute to the pathogenesis of RA. These findings establish the pathological importance of Foxp3 instability in the generation of pathogenic TH17 cells in autoimmunity.

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Figure 1: CD25loFoxp3+ T cells are unstable Foxp3+ T cells that convert to TH17 cells under arthritic conditions.
Figure 2: Localization, marker gene expression and DNA methylation status of exFoxp3 T cells in arthritic mice.
Figure 3: Arthritic synovial fibroblasts promote the conversion of Foxp3+ T cells to TH17 cells in an IL-6–dependent manner.
Figure 4: exFoxp3 TH17 cells are osteoclastogenic T cells with distinct gene profiles.
Figure 5: Pathogenic role of exFoxp3 T cells to arthritis in vivo.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to S. Hori (RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences) and Y. Iwakura (Tokyo University of Science) for providing B6.Foxp3hCD2 knock-in mice and Il17a−/− mice, respectively. We also thank T. Negishi-Koga, M. Shinohara, A. Terashima, M. Guerrini, L. Danks, M. Hayashi, T. Ando, Y. Ogiwara, N. Otsuka, T. Kato, C. Tsuda, T. Suda, A. Suematsu, S. Fukuse, Y. Wada, A. Izumi and K. Kaneki for discussion and assistance. This work was supported in part by a grant for the ERATO Takayanagi Osteonetwork Project from JST; a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows; and a grant for the GCOE Program from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. N.K. was supported by JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists.

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N.K. designed and performed experiments, interpreted the results and prepared the manuscript. K.O., S.S., T.N. and M.O. contributed to study design and manuscript preparation. T.K. contributed to microarray analysis. S.T. contributed to the analysis of human RA and osteoarthritis samples. J.A.B. generated Foxp3-GFP-Cre mice and contributed to study design and data interpretation. H.T. directed the project and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hiroshi Takayanagi.

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Komatsu, N., Okamoto, K., Sawa, S. et al. Pathogenic conversion of Foxp3+ T cells into TH17 cells in autoimmune arthritis. Nat Med 20, 62–68 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3432

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