Authors
Daniel A Michelson, Chong Zuo, Michael Verzi, Christophe Benoist, Diane Mathis
Publication date
2023/7/3
Journal
Journal of Experimental Medicine
Volume
220
Issue
10
Pages
e20230461
Publisher
Rockefeller University Press
Description
Mimetic cells are medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) that mimic extra-thymic cell types to tolerize T cells to self-antigens. Here, we dissected the biology of entero-hepato mTECs, mimetic cells expressing gut- and liver-associated transcripts. Entero-hepato mTECs conserved their thymic identity yet accessed wide swaths of enterocyte chromatin and transcriptional programs via the transcription factors Hnf4α and Hnf4γ. Deletion of Hnf4α and Hnf4γ in TECs ablated entero-hepato mTECs and downregulated numerous gut- and liver-associated transcripts, with a primary contribution from Hnf4γ. Loss of Hnf4 impaired enhancer activation and CTCF redistribution in mTECs but did not impact Polycomb-mediated repression or promoter-proximal histone marks. By single-cell RNA sequencing, Hnf4 loss produced three distinct effects on mimetic cell state, fate, and accumulation. Serendipitously, a requirement for …
Total citations
2023202427
Scholar articles
DA Michelson, C Zuo, M Verzi, C Benoist, D Mathis - Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2023