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Summary: CD8+ T cells are selected via low-affinity interaction with MHC class I molecules on thymic epithelial cells (TECs). However, compromised T cell receptor signaling was proposed to force CD8+ T cell selection on hematopoietic cells through a SLAM-associated protein (SAP)-dependent mechanism similar to NKT cells. The outcome is an unconventional CD8+ T cell with phenotypic and functional characteristics of innate lymphocytes. Here we showed that Id3 −/− CD8+ T cells had an innate-like phenotype and required SAP for their development. However, like conventional CD8+ T cells, Id3 −/− CD8+ thymocytes were selected on TECs. The requirement for SAP and the innate-like phenotype was not intrinsic to Id3 −/− CD8+ thymocytes. Rather, an expanded population of NKT-like cells induced the innate phenotype on CD8+ T cells through production of interleukin-4. Our findings reveal that accumulation of NKT-like cells promotes conventional CD8+ thymocytes to acquire innate lymphocyte characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing recognition that regionalization of bacterial colonization and immunity along the intestinal tract has an important role in health and disease. Yet, the mechanisms underlying intestinal regionalization and its dysregulation in disease are not well understood. This study found that regional epithelial expression of the transcription factor GATA4 controls bacterial colonization and inflammatory tissue immunity in the proximal small intestine by regulating retinol metabolism and luminal IgA. Furthermore, in mice without jejunal GATA4 expression, the commensal segmented filamentous bacteria promoted pathogenic inflammatory immune responses that disrupted barrier function and increased mortality upon Citrobacter rodentium infection. In celiac disease patients, low GATA4 expression was associated with metabolic alterations, mucosal Actinobacillus, and increased IL-17 immunity. Taken together, these results reveal broad impacts of GATA4-regulated intestinal regionalization on bacterial colonization and tissue immunity, highlighting an elaborate interdependence of intestinal metabolism, immunity, and microbiota in homeostasis and disease. [Display omitted] • GATA4 prevents small intestinal inflammation by restricting bacterial colonization • GATA4 regulates bacterial colonization in part by regulating IgA and retinol metabolism • GATA4 deficiency, SFB, and Citrobacter rodentium synergize to drive immunopathology • Th17 immunity is found in celiac patients with GATA4 deficiency and Actinobacillus Regulators of intestinal regionalization are vital, yet poorly understood. Here, Earley et al. demonstrate how the transcription factor GATA4 regulates metabolic pathways and luminal IgA to control adherent bacteria colonization. Proper gut regionalization and commensal colonization is critical in preventing dysregulated Th17 responses and immunopathology in humans and mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The precise impact of thymic positive and negative selection on the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire remains controversial. Here, we used unbiased, high-throughput cloning and retroviral expression of individual pre-selection TCRs to provide a direct assessment of these processes at the clonal level in vivo. We found that 15% of random TCRs induced signaling and directed positive (7.5%) or negative (7.5%) selection, depending on strength of signal, whereas the remaining 85% failed to induce signaling or selection. Most negatively selected TCRs exhibited promiscuous crossreactivity toward multiple other major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotypes. In contrast, TCRs that were positively selected or non-selected were minimally crossreactive. Negative selection of crossreactive TCRs led to clonal deletion but also recycling into intestinal CD4 − CD8β − intraepithelial lymphocytes (iIELs). Thus, broadly crossreactive TCRs arise at low frequency in the pre-selection repertoire but constitute the primary drivers of thymic negative selection and iIEL lineage differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is prominently secreted at mucosal surfaces and coats a fraction of the intestinal microbiota. However, the commensal bacteria bound by IgA are poorly characterized and the type of humoral immunity they elicit remains elusive. We used bacterial flow cytometry coupled with 16S rRNA gene sequencing (IgA-Seq) in murine models of immunodeficiency to identify IgA-bound bacteria and elucidate mechanisms of commensal IgA targeting. We found that residence in the small intestine, rather than bacterial identity, dictated induction of specific IgA. Most commensals elicited strong T-independent (TI) responses that originated from the orphan B1b lineage and from B2 cells, but excluded natural antibacterial B1a specificities. Atypical commensals including segmented filamentous bacteria and Mucispirillum evaded TI responses but elicited T-dependent IgA. These data demonstrate exquisite targeting of distinct commensal bacteria by multiple layers of humoral immunity and reveal a specialized function of the B1b lineage in TI mucosal IgA responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Glycosylceramides in mammalian species are thought to be present in the form of β-anomers. This conclusion was reinforced by the identification of only one glucosylceramide and one galactosylceramide synthase, both β-transferases, in mammalian genomes. Thus, the possibility that small amounts of α-anomers could be produced by an alternative enzymatic pathway, by an unfaithful enzyme, or spontaneously in unusual cellular compartments has not been examined in detail. We approached the question by taking advantage of the exquisite specificity of T and B lymphocytes and combined it with the specificity of catabolic enzymes of the sphingolipid pathway. Here, we demonstrate that mammalian immune cells produce constitutively very small quantities of α-glycosylceramides, which are the major endogenous ligands of natural killer T cells. Catabolic enzymes of the ceramide and glycolipid pathway tightly control the amount of these α-glycosylceramides. The exploitation of this pathway to manipulate the immune response will create new therapeutic opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The developmental pathway of intestinal TCRαβ+CD4- CD8β- intraepithelial lymphocytes (unconventional iIELs) has remained elusive. Bendelac and colleagues demonstrate that expression of unconventional iIEL TCRs in thymocytes causes negative selection and that unconventional iIELs are derived from rare escapees of cortical negative selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The nature of the antigens recognized by γδ T cells and their potential recognition of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-like molecules has remained unclear. Members of the CD1 family of lipid-presenting molecules are suggested ligands for Vδ1 TCR-expressing γδ T cells, the major γδ lymphocyte population in epithelial tissues. We crystallized a Vδ1 TCR in complex with CD1d and the self-lipid sulfatide, revealing the unusual recognition of CD1d by germline Vδ1 residues spanning all complementarity-determining region (CDR) loops, as well as sulfatide recognition separately encoded by nongermline CDR3δ residues. Binding and functional analysis showed that CD1d presenting self-lipids, including sulfatide, was widely recognized by gut Vδ1+ γδ T cells. These findings provide structural demonstration of MHC-like recognition of a self-lipid by γδ T cells and reveal the prevalence of lipid recognition by innate-like T cell populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The transcriptional control of CD1d-restricted NKT cell development has remained elusive. We report that PLZF (promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger, Zbtb16), a member of the BTB/POZ-ZF family of transcription factors that includes the CD4-lineage-specific c-Krox (Th-POK), is exquisitely specific to CD1d-restricted NKT cells and human MR1-specific MAIT cells. PLZF was induced immediately after positive selection of NKT cell precursors, and PLZF-deficient NKT cells failed to undergo the intrathymic expansion and effector differentiation that characterize their lineage. Instead, they preserved a naive phenotype and were directed to lymph nodes. Conversely, transgenic expression of PLZF induced CD4+ thymocytes to acquire effector differentiation and migrate to nonlymphoid tissues. We suggest that PLZF is a transcriptional signature of NKT cells that directs their innate-like effector differentiation during thymic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Commitment to the T and natural killer T (NKT) cell lineages is determined during αβ T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated interactions of common precursors with ligand-expressing cells in the thymus. Whereas mainstream thymocyte precursors recognize major histocompatibility complex (MHC) ligands expressed by stromal cells, NKT cell precursors interact with CD1d ligands expressed by cortical thymocytes. Here, we demonstrated that such homotypic T-T interactions generated “second signals” mediated by the cooperative engagement of the homophilic receptors Slamf1 (SLAM) and Slamf6 (Ly108) and the downstream recruitment of the adaptor SLAM-associated protein (SAP) and the Src kinase Fyn, which are essential for the lineage expansion and differentiation of the NKT cell lineage. These receptor interactions were required during TCR engagement and therefore only occurred when selecting ligands were presented by thymocytes rather than epithelial cells, which do not express Slamf6 or Slamf1. Thus, the topography of NKT cell ligand recognition determines the availability of a cosignaling pathway that is essential for NKT cell lineage development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Invariant Vα14i NKT (iNKT) cells are a specialized subset of T lymphocytes with regulatory functions. They coexpress TCRαβ and natural killer cell markers. They differentiate through interaction of their Vα14-Jα18 invariant TCRα chains with CD1d expressed on double-positive (DP) thymocytes. Although their development has been shown to be thymus dependent, their developmental pathway has not been definitively established. By using genetic analyses, we show here that all iNKT cells are selected from a pool of DP thymocytes. Their development is absolutely dependent on Runx1 and RORγt, transcription factors that influence, but are not required for, development of conventional T cells. Our results indicate that even though CD1d binding DP thymocytes have yet to be observed, Vα14-Jα18 rearrangement in these cells is required for development of iNKT cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]