Regulatory T cell Development in the Human Thymus - A Comprehensive Approach Combining Genome-wide Analysis and Single-cell Protein Expression by Computational Flow Cytometry

Yumie Tokunaga, Helena Nunes-Cabaço, Ana Serra-Caetano, Henrique Machado, Catarina Godinho-Santos, Ana E. Sousa

2017

Abstract

The immune responses need to be tightly controlled to avoid harmful effects. T cells are key players to orchestrate this immune process. There is one T cell subset called regulatory T cells (Treg) defined by the expression of the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (FOXP3), which devoted to suppress immune responses. They can develop either in the thymus, the organ where T cells are produced, or be generated during immune responses. Thymic Tregs are considered particularly important to ensure self-tolerance and prevent autoimmunity. There are very few data regarding the factors that determine the Treg lineage commitment in the human thymus, as well as those that contribute to their maintenance after leaving the thymus as naïve Tregs. Naïve Tregs are known to continuously replenish the memory fully suppressor Treg pool, but the mechanisms involved in their maintenance throughout life are largely unknown. Our main objective is to investigate these processes by using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and computational flow-cytometry approaches. The currently available NGS data from human thymocytes are very limited. Additionally, flow-cytometry analysis has been mainly done based on a sequential gating strategy, which only focus on cell populations identified by pre-defined cellular markers. An unbiased approach will be more effective for exploring unknown developmental stages. Importantly, flow-cytometry generates multi-parameter protein expression profiles at the single-cell level. Applying computational analysis to these single-cell high dimensional data will provide relevant new relevant insights. This study is expected to significantly improve our understanding of human Treg development and homeostasis, with implications for tolerance induction and autoimmune diseases.

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in Harvard Style

Tokunaga Y., Nunes-Cabaço H., Serra-Caetano A., Machado H., Godinho-Santos C. and E. Sousa A. (2017). Regulatory T cell Development in the Human Thymus - A Comprehensive Approach Combining Genome-wide Analysis and Single-cell Protein Expression by Computational Flow Cytometry . In Doctoral Consortium - DCBIOSTEC, (BIOSTEC 2017) ISBN , pages 3-10


in Bibtex Style

@conference{dcbiostec17,
author={Yumie Tokunaga and Helena Nunes-Cabaço and Ana Serra-Caetano and Henrique Machado and Catarina Godinho-Santos and Ana E. Sousa},
title={Regulatory T cell Development in the Human Thymus - A Comprehensive Approach Combining Genome-wide Analysis and Single-cell Protein Expression by Computational Flow Cytometry},
booktitle={Doctoral Consortium - DCBIOSTEC, (BIOSTEC 2017)},
year={2017},
pages={3-10},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={},
isbn={},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Doctoral Consortium - DCBIOSTEC, (BIOSTEC 2017)
TI - Regulatory T cell Development in the Human Thymus - A Comprehensive Approach Combining Genome-wide Analysis and Single-cell Protein Expression by Computational Flow Cytometry
SN -
AU - Tokunaga Y.
AU - Nunes-Cabaço H.
AU - Serra-Caetano A.
AU - Machado H.
AU - Godinho-Santos C.
AU - E. Sousa A.
PY - 2017
SP - 3
EP - 10
DO -