Pre-TCR signal transduction is required for developing thymocytes to differentiate from CD4-CD8- double negative (DN) to CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) cell. Notch signalling is required for T-cell fate specification and must be maintained throughout β-selection, but inappropriate Notch activation in DN4 and DP cells is oncogenic. Here, we show that pre-TCR signalling leads to increased expression of the transcriptional repressor Bcl6 and that Bcl6 is required for differentiation to DP. Conditional deletion of Bcl6 from thymocytes reduced pre-TCR-induced differentiation to DP cell, disrupted expansion and enrichment of icTCRβ+ cells within the DN population and increased DN4 cell death. It also increased Notch1 activation and Notch-mediated transcription in the DP population. Thus, Bcl6 is required in thymocyte development for efficient differentiation from DN3 to DP cell and to attenuate Notch1 activation in DP cells. Given the importance of inappropriate NOTCH1 signalling in T-ALL, and the involvement of Bcl6 in other types of leukaemia, this study is important to our understanding of T-ALL.

The vertebrate eye originates from the eye field, a domain of cells specified by a small number of transcription factors. In this study, we show that Tcf7l1a is one such transcription factor that acts cell-autonomously to specify the eye field in zebrafish. Despite the much-reduced eye field in tcf7l1a mutants, these fish develop normal eyes revealing a striking ability of the eye to recover from a severe early phenotype. This robustness is not mediated through genetic compensation at neural plate stage; instead, the smaller optic vesicle of tcf7l1a mutants shows delayed neurogenesis and continues to grow until it achieves approximately normal size. Although the developing eye is robust to the lack of Tcf7l1a function, it is sensitised to the effects of additional mutations. In support of this, a forward genetic screen identified mutations in hesx1, cct5 and gdf6a, which give synthetically enhanced eye specification or growth phenotypes when in combination with the tcf7l1a mutation.

Allergic asthma is a common inflammatory airway disease in which Th2 immune response and inflammation are thought to be triggered by inhalation of environmental allergens. Many studies using mouse models and human tissues and genome-wide association have indicated that Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) and the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway are involved in allergic asthma and that Shh is upregulated in the lung on disease induction. We used a papain-induced mouse model of allergic airway inflammation to investigate the impact of systemic pharmacological inhibition of the Hh signal transduction molecule smoothened on allergic airway disease induction and severity. Smoothened-inhibitor treatment reduced the induction of Shh, IL-4, and IL-13 in the lung and decreased serum IgE, as well as the expression of Smo, Il4, Il13, and the mucin gene Muc5ac in lung tissue. Smoothened inhibitor treatment reduced cellular infiltration of eosinophils, mast cells, basophils, and CD4+ T-cells to the lung, and eosinophils and CD4+ T-cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage. In the mediastinal lymph nodes, smoothened inhibitor treatment reduced the number of CD4+ T-cells, and the cell surface expression of Th2 markers ST2 and IL-4rα and expression of Th2 cytokines. Thus, overall pharmacological smoothened inhibition attenuated T-cell infiltration to the lung and Th2 function and reduced disease severity and inflammation in the airway.

During positive selection at the transition from CD4+CD8+ double-positive (DP) to single-positive (SP) thymocyte, TCR signalling results in appropriate MHC restriction and signals for survival and progression. We show that the pioneer transcription factors Foxa1 and Foxa2 are required to regulate RNA splicing during positive selection of mouse T cells and that Foxa1 and Foxa2 have overlapping/compensatory roles. Conditional deletion of both Foxa1 and Foxa2 from DP thymocytes reduced positive selection and development of CD4SP, CD8SP and peripheral naïve CD4+ T cells. Foxa1 and Foxa2 regulated the expression of many genes encoding splicing factors and regulators, including Mbnl1, H1f0, Sf3b1, Hnrnpa1, Rnpc3, Prpf4b, Prpf40b and Snrpd3. Within the positively selecting CD69+DP cells, alternative RNA splicing was dysregulated in the double Foxa1/Foxa2 conditional knockout, leading to >850 differentially used exons. Many genes important for this stage of T-cell development (Ikzf1-3, Ptprc, Stat5a, Stat5b, Cd28, Tcf7) and splicing factors (Hnrnpab, Hnrnpa2b1, Hnrnpu, Hnrnpul1, Prpf8) showed multiple differentially used exons. Thus, Foxa1 and Foxa2 are required during positive selection to regulate alternative splicing of genes essential for T-cell development, and, by also regulating splicing of splicing factors, they exert widespread control of alternative splicing.

Here we investigate the function of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in thymic γδ T-cell maturation and subset differentiation. Analysis of Hh mutants showed that Hh signaling promotes γδ T-cell development in the thymus and influences γδ T-cell effector subset distribution. Hh-mediated transcription in thymic γδ cells increased γδ T-cell number, and promoted their maturation and increased the γδNKT subset, whereas inhibition of Hh-mediated transcription reduced the thymic γδ T-cell population and increased expression of many genes that are normally down-regulated during γδ T-cell maturation. These changes were also evident in spleen, where increased Hh signaling increased γδNKT cells, but reduced CD27-CD44+ and Vγ2+ populations. Systemic in vivo pharmacological Smoothened-inhibition reduced γδ T-cell and γδNKT cells in the thymus, and also reduced splenic γδ T-cell and γδNKT populations, indicating that Hh signaling also influences homeostasis of peripheral γδ T-cell populations. Taken together our data indicate that Sonic Hedgehog is an important determinant of γδ T-cell effector subset differentiation.

AbstractMyelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a haematological malignancy characterised by blood cytopenias and predisposition to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Therapies for MDS are lacking, particularly those that impact the early stages of disease. We developed a model of MDS using zebrafish using knockout of Rps14, the primary mediator of the anaemia associated with del (5q) MDS. These mutant animals display dose- and age-dependent abnormalities in haematopoiesis, culminating in bone marrow failure with dysplastic features. We utilized rps14 knockdown to undertake an in vivo small molecule screen to identify compounds that ameliorate the MDS phenotype, identifying imiquimod, an agonist of TLR7 and TLR8. Imiquimod alleviates anaemia by promoting haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell expansion and erythroid differentiation, the mechanism of which is dependent on TLR7 ligation. TLR7 activation in this setting paradoxically promoted an anti-inflammatory gene signature suggesting crosstalk between pro-inflammatory pathways endogenous to Rps14 loss and TLR7 pathway activation. Finally, we show that in highly purified human bone marrow samples from anaemic patients, imiquimod leads to an increase in erythroid output from myelo-erythroid progenitors and common myeloid progenitors. Our findings have both specific implications for the development of targeted therapeutics for del (5q) MDS and wider significance identifying a potential role for TLR7 ligation in modifying anaemia.

Germline loss or mutation of one copy of the transcription factor GATA2 in humans leads to a range of clinical phenotypes affecting hematopoietic, lymphatic and vascular systems. GATA2 heterozygous mice show only a limited repertoire of the features observed in humans. Zebrafish have two copies of the Gata2 gene as a result of an additional round of ancestral whole genome duplication. These genes, Gata2a and Gata2b, show distinct but overlapping expression patterns, and between them, highlight a significantly broader range of the phenotypes observed in GATA2 deficient syndromes, than each one alone. In this manuscript, we use mutants for Gata2a and Gata2b to interrogate the effects on hematopoiesis of these two ohnologs, alone and in combination, during development in order to further define the role of GATA2 in developmental hematopoiesis. We define unique roles for each ohnolog at different stages of developmental myelopoiesis and for the emergence of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. These effects are not additive in the haploinsufficient state suggesting a redundancy between these two genes in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Rescue studies additionally support that Gata2b can compensate for the effects of Gata2a loss. Finally we show that adults with loss of combined heterozygosity show defects in the myeloid compartment consistent with GATA2 loss in humans. These results build on existing knowledge from other models of GATA2 deficiency and refine our understanding of the early developmental effects of GATA2. In addition, these studies shed light on the complexity and potential structure-function relationships as well as sub-functionalization of Gata2 genes in the zebrafish model.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a haematological malignancy characterised by blood cytopenias and predisposition to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Therapies for MDS are lacking, particularly those that impact the early stages of disease. We developed a model of MDS using zebrafish using knockout of Rps14, the primary mediator of the anaemia associated with del (5q) MDS. These mutant animals display dose- and age-dependent abnormalities in haematopoiesis, culminating in bone marrow failure with dysplastic features. We utilized rps14 knockdown to undertake an in vivo small molecule screen to identify compounds that ameliorate the MDS phenotype, identifying imiquimod, an agonist of TLR7 and TLR8. Imiquimod alleviates anaemia by promoting haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell expansion and erythroid differentiation, the mechanism of which is dependent on TLR7 ligation and Myd88. TLR7 activation in this setting paradoxically promoted an anti-inflammatory gene signature indicating crosstalk between pro-inflammatory pathways endogenous to Rps14 loss and NFkappaB pathway via TLR7. Finally, we show that in highly purified human bone marrow samples from anaemic patients, imiquimod leads to an increase in erythroid output from myelo-erythroid progenitors and common myeloid progenitors. Our findings have both specific implications for the development of targeted therapeutics for del (5q) MDS and wider significance identifying a potential role for TLR7 ligation in modifying anaemia.