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Published online before print March 18, 2008
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From the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
The Pten tumor suppressor gene is critical for normal intrathymic development of T cells; however, its role in mature antigen-activated T cells is less well defined. A genetically crossed mouse line, Ptenfl/fl GBC, in which Pten gene deletions could be primarily confined to antigen-activated CD8+ T cells, enabled us to evaluate the consequences of Pten loss on the course of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Compared with Ptenfl/fl controls, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide-immunized Ptenfl/fl GBC mice developed more severe and protracted disease. This was accompanied by increased spinal cord white matter myelin basic protein depletion and axonal damage, as well as a striking persistence of macrophage and granzyme B-expressing cellular neuroinfiltrates in the chronic phase of the disease. This persistence may be explained by the observation that anti-CD3 activated Ptenfl/fl GBC T cells were more resistant to proapoptotic stimuli. Consistent with the predicted consequences of Pten loss, purified CD8+ T cells from Ptenfl/fl GBC mice displayed augmented proliferative responses to anti-T-cell receptor stimulation, and MOG-primed Ptenfl/fl GBC T cells exhibited a reduced activation threshold to MOG peptide. Ptenfl/fl GBC mice also developed atypical central nervous system disease, manifested by prominent cervical cord and forebrain involvement. Collectively, our findings indicate that the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling pathway is an essential regulator of CD8+ T-cell effector function in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
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