Autoimmunity associated allele of tyrosine phosphatase gene PTPN22 enhances anti-viral immunity

In this study, we examine gene expression and function of immune cell subsets to demonstrate how a common allelic variant of PTPN22, which strongly increases the risk of autoimmune disease, promotes successful clearance of an otherwise chronic viral infection. Overall design: At 8 days post infection, splenocytes from 4-5 age matched, sex matched PEP-WT Wild Type and PEP-619WW Mutant mice were removed, processed , and resuspended in a single cell suspension. Splenocytes from each genotype were pooled and FACS sorted for Live CD45+ cells. Sorted cells were analyzed using single cell RNA sequencing via 10x Genomics platform

本研究旨在解析免疫细胞亚群的基因表达与功能，以阐明一种可显著增加自身免疫病发病风险的常见PTPN22等位基因变异，如何促进原本可发展为慢性的病毒感染被成功清除。
总体实验设计：感染后第8天，选取4~5只年龄与性别均匹配的PEP-WT野生型及PEP-619WW突变型小鼠，获取其脾脏淋巴细胞，经处理后重悬为单细胞悬液。将不同基因型小鼠的脾脏淋巴细胞混合后，通过荧光激活细胞分选（Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting, FACS）分选出存活CD45+细胞；随后采用10x Genomics平台对分选得到的细胞开展单细胞RNA测序分析。