• Medientyp: E-Artikel
  • Titel: Sialic acids on T cells are crucial for their maintenance and survival
  • Beteiligte: Schmidt, Michael; Linder, Alexandra T.; Korn, Marina; Schellenberg, Nick; Meyer, Sarah J.; Nimmerjahn, Falk; Werner, Anja; Abeln, Markus; Gerardy-Schahn, Rita; Münster-Kühnel, Anja K.; Nitschke, Lars
  • Erschienen: Frontiers Media SA, 2024
  • Erschienen in: Frontiers in Immunology, 15 (2024)
  • Sprache: Nicht zu entscheiden
  • DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1359494
  • ISSN: 1664-3224
  • Entstehung:
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  • Beschreibung: Sialic acids are found as terminal sugars on glycan structures on cellular surfaces. T cells carry these sialoglycans abundantly, and they are thought to serve multiple functions in cell adhesion, cell migration, and protection from complement attack. We studied the role of sialoglycans on T cells in a mouse model with a T cell-specific deletion of cytidine monophosphate-sialic acid synthase (CMAS), the enzyme that is crucial for the synthesis of sialoglycans. These mice showed a T-cell deficiency in peripheral lymphoid organs. Many T cells with an undeleted Cmas allele were found in the periphery, suggesting that they escaped the Cre-mediated deletion. The remaining peripheral T cells of T cell-specific Cmas KO mice had a memory-like phenotype. Additional depletion of the complement factor C3 could not rescue the phenotype, showing that the T-cell defect was not caused by a host complement activity. Cmas-deficient T cells showed a high level of activated caspase 3, indicating an ongoing apoptosis. In bone marrow chimeric cellular transfer experiments, we observed a strong competitive disadvantage of Cmas-deficient T cells compared to wild-type T cells. These results show that sialoglycans on the surface of T cells are crucial for T-cell survival and maintenance. This function has not been recognized before and is similar to the function of sialoglycans on B cells.
  • Zugangsstatus: Freier Zugang