HIF-1 stabilization in T cells hampers the control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Abstract

AbstractThe hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) regulate the main transcriptional pathway of response to hypoxia in T cells and are negatively regulated by von Hippel-Lindau factor (VHL). But the role of HIFs in the regulation of CD4 T cell responses during infection withM. tuberculosisisn’t well understood. Here we show that mice lacking VHL in T cells (Vhl cKO) are highly susceptible to infection withM. tuberculosis, which is associated with a low accumulation of mycobacteria-specific T cells in the lungs that display reduced proliferation, altered differentiation and enhanced expression of inhibitory receptors. In contrast, HIF-1 deficiency in T cells is redundant forM. tuberculosiscontrol.Vhl cKOmice also show reduced responses to vaccination. Further, VHL promotes proper MYC-activation, cell-growth responses, DNA synthesis, proliferation and survival of CD4 T cells after TCR activation. The VHL-deficient T cell responses are rescued by the loss of HIF-1α, indicating that the increased susceptibility toM. tuberculosisinfection and the impaired responses ofVhl-deficient T cells are HIF-1-dependent.