Exploring the dynamics and influencing factors of CD4 T cell activation using single-cell RNA-seq
Hui Li,
Hongyi Liu,
Yifei Liu,
Xuefei Wang,
Shiya Yu,
Hongwen Huang,
Xiangru Shen,
Qi Zhang,
Ni Hong,
Wenfei Jin
Affiliations
Hui Li
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Hongyi Liu
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Yifei Liu
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Xuefei Wang
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Shiya Yu
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Hongwen Huang
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Xiangru Shen
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Qi Zhang
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Ni Hong
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Wenfei Jin
School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Corresponding author
Summary: T cell activation is a key event in adaptive immunity. However, the dynamics and influencing factors of T cell activation remain unclear. Here, we analyzed CD4 T cells that were stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 under several conditions to explore the factors affecting T cell activation. We found a stimulated T subset (HSPhi T) highly expressing heat shock proteins, which was derived from stimulated naive T. We identified and characterized inert T, a stimulated T cell subset in transitional state from resting T to activated T. Interestingly, resting CXCR4low T responded to stimulation more efficiently than resting CXCR4hi T. Furthermore, stimulation of CD4 T in the presence of CD8 T resulted in more effector T and more homogeneous expressions of CD25, supporting that presence of CD8 T reduces the extreme response of T cells, which can be explained by regulation of CD4 T activation through CD8 T-initiated cytokine signaling and FAS/FASLG signaling.
