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      Early growth response gene 2 (Egr-2) controls the self-tolerance of T cells and prevents the development of lupuslike autoimmune disease

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          Abstract

          Maintaining tolerance of T cells to self-antigens is essential to avoid autoimmune disease. How self-reactive T cells are kept functionally inactive is, however, unknown. In this study, we show that early growth response gene 2 (Egr-2), a zinc-finger transcription factor, is expressed in CD44 high T cells and controls their proliferation and activation. In the absence of Egr-2, CD44 high, but not CD44 low T cells, are hyperreactive and hyperproliferative in vivo. The accumulation of activated CD4 +CD44 high T cells leads to the development of a late onset lupuslike autoimmune disease characterized by the accumulation of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-17–producing CD4 + T cells, loss of tolerance to nuclear antigens, massive infiltration of T cells into multiple organs and glomerulonephritis. We found that the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21cip1 was impaired in Egr-2–deficient T cells, whereas the expression of IFN-γ and IL-17 in response to T cell receptor ligation was significantly increased, suggesting that Egr-2 activates the expression of genes involved in the negative regulation of T cell proliferation and inflammation. These results demonstrate that Egr-2 is an intrinsic regulator of effector T cells and controls the expansion of self-reactive T cells and development of autoimmune disease.

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          Most cited references29

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          Transgenic mice with hematopoietic and lymphoid specific expression of Cre.

          Bacteriophage P1 Cre/loxP based systems can be used to manipulate the genomes ofmice in vivo and in vitro, allowing the generation of tissue-specific conditional mutants. We have generated mouse lines expressing Cre recombinase in hematopoietic tissues using the vav regulatory elements, or in lymphoid cells using the hCD2 promoter and locus control region (LCR). The R26R-EYFP Cre reporter mouse line was used to determine the pattern of Cre expression in each line and enabled the assessment of Cre activity at a single-cell level. Analysis showed that the vav promoter elements were able to direct Cre-mediated recombination in all cells of the hematopoietic system. The hCD2 promoter and LCR on the other hand were able to drive Cre-mediated recombination only in T cells and B cells, but not in other hematopoietic cell types. Furthermore, in the appropriate tissues, deletion of the floxed target was complete in all cells, thereby excluding the possibility of variegated expression of the Cre transgene. Both of these Cre-transgenic lines will be useful in generating tissue-specific gene deletions within all the cells of hematopoietic or lymphoid tissues.
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            Spontaneous murine lupus-like syndromes. Clinical and immunopathological manifestations in several strains

            MRL/1 and BXSB male mice have a systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-like disease similar to but more acute than that occurring in NZB X W mice. The common elements of lymphoid hyperplasia, B-cell hyperactivity, autoantibodies, circulating immune complex (IC), complement consumption, IC glomerulonephritis with gp70 deposition, and thymic atrophy were found in all three kinds of SLE mice. On the basis of these common elements, SLE seen in these mice can be considered a single disease in the same sense that human SLE is one disease. The differences in the SLE expressed in the different mice are no greater than those found in an unselected series of humans with SLE. However, the significant quantitative and qualitative variations in abnormal immunologic expression suggest that different constellations of factors, genetic and/or pathophysiologic, may operate in the three murine strains and that each constellation is capable of leading, via its particular abnormal immunologic consequences, to the activation of common immunopathologic effector mechanisms that cause quite similar SLE-like syndromes. From an experimental point of view, the availability of several inbred murine strains of commonplace histocompatibility types that express an SLE-like syndrome makes possible innumerable manipulations which should help to elucidate the nature and cause(s) of this disorder.
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              Krox-20 controls myelination in the peripheral nervous system.

              The molecular mechanisms controlling the process of myelination by Schwann cells remain elusive, despite recent progress in the identification and characterization of genes encoding myelin components (reviewed in ref. 1). We have created a null allele in the mouse Krox-20 gene, which encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor, by in-frame insertion of the Escherichia coli lacZ gene, and have shown that hindbrain segmentation is affected in Krox-20-/- embryos. We demonstrate here that Krox-20 is also activated in Schwann cells before the onset of myelination and that its disruption blocks Schwann cells at an early stage in their differentiation, thus preventing myelination in the peripheral nervous system. In Krox-20-/- mice, Schwann cells wrap their cytoplasmic processes only one and a half turns around the axon, and although they express the early myelin marker, myelin-associated glycoprotein, late myelin gene products are absent, including those for protein zero and myelin basic protein. Therefore Krox-20 is likely to control a set of genes required for completion of myelination in the peripheral nervous system.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Exp Med
                jem
                The Journal of Experimental Medicine
                The Rockefeller University Press
                0022-1007
                1540-9538
                29 September 2008
                : 205
                : 10
                : 2295-2307
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London, London E1 2AT, England, UK
                [2 ]Division of Molecular Immunology, Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, England, UK
                [3 ]Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, School of Medical Sciences, Bristol BS8 1TD, England, UK
                [4 ]Department of Biological Sciences, Brunel University, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, London, England, UK
                Author notes

                CORRESPONDENCE Ping Wang: p.wang@ 123456qmul.ac.uk

                Article
                20080187
                10.1084/jem.20080187
                2556781
                18779345
                48914e11-a1b3-4d65-9acd-ffdabf4e5bb6
                © 2008 Zhu et al.

                This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jem.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

                History
                : 28 January 2008
                : 7 August 2008
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