Differential Expression of Nuclear Receptors in T Helper Cells

  • Published : 2009.02.28

Abstract

Steroid hormones have long been known to have a profound influence on the immune system. Although the functions of the nuclear receptors in the development of T cells are fairly well studied, the differential expression of these receptors in T helper cells is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the differential expression of nuclear receptors and coregulators in Th1 and Th2 cells by genome-wide micro array analysis. The result showed that several nuclear receptors and coregulators are differentially expressed in these cells. The result was confirmed by RT-PCR. The result showed that $RXR{\alpha}$ is highly expressed in Th2 cells. Overexpression of $RXR{\alpha}$ in a Jurkat human T cell line induced IL4 but not IFN-${\gamma}$ gene expression, suggesting that $RXR{\alpha}$ plays a selective role in Th1 and Th2 differentiation. In summary, these results suggest that Th1/Th2 differentiation is influenced by differential regulation of nuclear receptors and coregulators.

Keywords

References

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