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Mapping autophagosome contents identifies interleukin-7 receptor-α as a key cargo modulating CD4+ T cell proliferation

Authors

  • D. Zhou
  • M. Borsa
  • D.J. Puleston
  • S. Zellner
  • J. Capera
  • S. Sanderson
  • M. Schifferer
  • S.S. Hester
  • X. Ge
  • R. Fischer
  • L. Jostins
  • C. Behrends
  • G. Alsaleh
  • A.K. Simon

Journal

  • Nature Communications

Citation

  • Nat Commun 13 (1): 5174

Abstract

  • CD4+ T cells are pivotal cells playing roles in the orchestration of humoral and cytotoxic immune responses. It is known that CD4+ T cell proliferation relies on autophagy, but identification of the autophagosomal cargo involved is missing. Here we create a transgenic mouse model, to enable direct mapping of the proteinaceous content of autophagosomes in primary cells by LC3 proximity labelling. Interleukin-7 receptor-α, a cytokine receptor mostly found in naïve and memory T cells, is reproducibly detected in autophagosomes of activated CD4+ T cells. Consistently, CD4+ T cells lacking autophagy show increased interleukin-7 receptor-α surface expression, while no defect in internalisation is observed. Mechanistically, excessive surface interleukin-7 receptor-α sequestrates the common gamma chain, impairing the interleukin-2 receptor assembly and downstream signalling crucial for T cell proliferation. This study shows that key autophagy substrates can be reliably identified in this mouse model and help mechanistically unravel autophagy's contribution to healthy physiology and disease.


DOI

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-32718-x