How gene mutation triggers the immune system

Scientists discovered how a gene mutation affects T cell function to promote immune disorders and then tested a treatment based on the discovery-successfully fixing donated immune cells from a 16-year-old boy with an abnormally low level of white blood cells called lymphopenia. The discovery centers on mutation of the gene Gimap5, which is important to the healthy formation and function of CD4+ T cells, one of the immune system's super soldiers against infection and disease.

The protein associated with the Gimap5 gene (also Gimap5), is important because it regulates a protein that inactivates an enzyme called GSK3, researchers said. If GSK3 isn't inactivated it causes DNA damage in T cells that are expanding, causing the cells not to survive or function properly. In mice and human blood cells, the researchers tested drugs that inhibit GSK3, improving immune system function in mice and restoring normal T cell function in the human cells.

GSK3 inhibitors are used to treat other diseases like Alzheimer's, mood disorders and diabetes mellitus. GSK3 inhibitors will improve T cell survival and function and may prevent or correct immune-related disorders in people with Gimap5 loss-of-function mutations.Therapeutically targeting this pathway may be relevant for treating people with Gimap5 mutations linked to autoimmunity in Type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus or asthma.

Hoebe led the study, together with Andrew Patterson, a PhD student in Hoebe's lab, and Jack Bleesing, MD, PhD, in the Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Immune Deficiency. Immune system disorders lead to abnormally low immune activity (deficiency) or overactivity (autoimmunity). Immune deficiency diseases decrease the body's ability to fight infection, while autoimmunity prompts the body to attack its own tissues. Both are common causes of illness, and malfunctioning T cells are linked to both.

The Gimap5 gene controls its associated protein Gimap5 (GTPase of immunity associated protein 5). As the name suggests, its role is mainly linked to immune system function, lymphocyte white blood cell survival and T cell formation in the thymus. Genetic variants in Gimap5 were already associated with autoimmunity and colitis.
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