University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
SMAD regulatory networks construct a balanced immune system
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Pathology
Publication Date
2013-5
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Animals; Autocrine Communication; B-Lymphocytes; Humans; Immune Tolerance; Immunity, Mucosal; Immunoglobulin A; Intestinal Mucosa; Mice; Paracrine Communication; Smad Proteins; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Th17 Cells; Transforming Growth Factor beta
Disciplines
Immunity | Immunology and Infectious Disease
Abstract
A balanced immune response requires combating infectious assaults while striving to maintain quiescence towards the self. One of the central players in this process is the pleiotropic cytokine transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), whose deficiency results in spontaneous systemic autoimmunity in mice. The dominant function of TGF-beta is to regulate the peripheral immune homeostasis, particularly in the microbe-rich and antigen-rich environment of the gut. To maintain intestinal integrity, the epithelial cells, myeloid cells and lymphocytes that inhabit the gut secrete TGF-beta, which acts in both paracrine and autocrine fashions to activate its signal transducers, the SMAD transcription factors. The SMAD pathway regulates the production of IgA by B cells, maintains the protective mucosal barrier and promotes the balanced differentiation of CD4(+) T cells into inflammatory T helper type 17 cells and suppressive FOXP3(+) T regulatory cells. While encounters with pathogenic microbes activate SMAD proteins to evoke a protective inflammatory immune response, SMAD activation and synergism with immunoregulatory factors such as the vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid enforce immunosuppression toward commensal microbes and innocuous food antigens. Such complementary context-dependent functions of TGF-beta are achieved by the co-operation of SMAD proteins with distinct dominant transcription activators and accessory chromatin modifiers. This review highlights recent advances in unravelling the molecular basis for the multi-faceted functions of TGF-beta in the gut that are dictacted by fluid orchestrations of SMADs and their myriad partners.
DOI of Published Version
10.1111/imm.12076
Source
Immunology. 2013 May;139(1):1-10. doi: 10.1111/imm.12076. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Immunology
PubMed ID
23347175
Repository Citation
Malhotra N, Kang J. (2013). SMAD regulatory networks construct a balanced immune system. University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1111/imm.12076. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/50