Whole transcriptome analysis for T cell receptor-affinity and IRF4-regulated clonal expansion of T cells

Abstract

Clonal population expansion of T cells during an immune response is dependent on the affinity of the T cell receptor (TCR) for its antigen [1]. However, there is little understanding of how this process is controlled transcriptionally. We found that the transcription factor IRF4 was induced in a manner dependent on TCR-affinity and was critical for the clonal expansion and maintenance of effector function of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. We performed a genome-wide expression profiling experiment using RNA sequencing technology (RNA-seq) to interrogate global expression changes when IRF4 was deleted in CD8+ T cells activated with either a low or high affinity peptide ligand. This allowed us ..