Nature Communications (Dec 2018)

Stabilization of cytokine mRNAs in iNKT cells requires the serine-threonine kinase IRE1alpha

  • Srinath Govindarajan,
  • Djoere Gaublomme,
  • Renée Van der Cruyssen,
  • Eveline Verheugen,
  • Sofie Van Gassen,
  • Yvan Saeys,
  • Simon Tavernier,
  • Takao Iwawaki,
  • Yehudi Bloch,
  • Savvas. N. Savvides,
  • Bart N. Lambrecht,
  • Sophie Janssens,
  • Dirk Elewaut,
  • Michael B. Drennan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07758-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells rapidly enhance cytokine secretion and effector function following activation, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Here the authors show that an endoplasmic reticulum stress sensor, inositol-requiring enzyme 1α, activates the p38 kinase to stabilize cytokine mRNA for enhanced iNKT functions.