Nr4a1 and Nr4a3 redundantly control clonal deletion and contribute to an anergy-like transcriptome in auto-reactive thymocytes to impose tolerance in mice

Bibliographic Details
Title: Nr4a1 and Nr4a3 redundantly control clonal deletion and contribute to an anergy-like transcriptome in auto-reactive thymocytes to impose tolerance in mice
Authors: Hailyn V. Nielsen, Letitia Yang, James L. Mueller, Alexander J. Ritter, Ryosuke Hiwa, Irina Proekt, Elze Rackaityte, Dominik Aylard, Mansi Gupta, Christopher D. Scharer, Mark S. Anderson, Byron B. Au-Yeung, Julie Zikherman
Source: Nature Communications, Vol 16, Iss 1, Pp 1-22 (2025)
Publisher Information: Nature Portfolio, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Collection: LCC:Science
Subject Terms: Science
More Details: Abstract The Nr4a nuclear hormone receptors are transcriptionally upregulated in response to antigen recognition by the T cell receptor (TCR) in the thymus and are implicated in clonal deletion, but the mechanisms by which they operate are not clear. Moreover, their role in central tolerance is obscured by redundancy among the Nr4a family members and by their reported functions in Treg generation and maintenance. Here we take advantage of competitive bone marrow chimeras and the OT-II/RIPmOVA model to show that Nr4a1 and Nr4a3 are essential for the upregulation of Bcl2l11/BIM and thymic clonal deletion by self-antigen. Importantly, thymocytes lacking Nr4a1/3 acquire an anergy-like signature after escaping clonal deletion and Treg lineage diversion. We further show that the Nr4a family helps mediate a broad transcriptional program in self-reactive thymocytes that resembles anergy and may operate at the margins of canonical thymic tolerance mechanisms to restrain self-reactive T cells after thymic egress.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2041-1723
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-55839-5
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/29d83af1ef7b4d09b87bf947b714cc14
Accession Number: edsdoj.29d83af1ef7b4d09b87bf947b714cc14
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:20411723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-55839-5
Published in:Nature Communications
Language:English