The Role Of Tshz2 In Differentiation And Function Of Follicular Helper T Cell

The help of T cell to B cell is very important to the adaptive immunity and even to the function of the entire immune system.Among them,follicular helper T cell(TFH)plays a key role.However,our understanding of TFH cell is still incomplete.The molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of TFH cell differentiation remains to be solved.Therefore,to address this issue thoroughly,we tried to search other key transcription factors that regulate the differentiation of TFH cell.These findings will be useful in improving the existing vaccines and development of new vaccines and even the progress of the entire immunology field.Tshz2 is a zinc-finger homeobox gene,which is critical to bone development and inmammary tumorigenesis.This article focuses on the transcription factor Tshz2,which is highly expressed in TFH cell.Using an ex vivo screening system,we found that Tshz2 maybe a positive regulator during the differentiation of TFH cell.Further studies found that Tshz2 may interact with Bcl6 to regulate the function of Bcl6,and thus affect the differentiation of TFH cell.In order to further explore the role of Tshz2 in the differentiation of TFH cell,we purified recombinant C terminal Tshz2 using prokaryotic expression system and prepared rabbit polyclonal antibodies against Tshz2 using recombinant protein as antigen.Through analyzing of Tshz2 germline deficient mice infected with LCMV virus,we found that the differentiation of TFH cells,as well as the formation of Germinal Center B cells and plasma cells were almost intact in Tshz2 deficient mice.As Tshz2 belongs to the family of Teashirt proteins including Tshzl and Tshz3,a reasonable explanation is that the function of Tshz2 is compensated by Tshzl and Tshz3,when Tshz2 is absent.