Transcrpition landscapes of CD4 T cell exhaustion in response to transplant antigen

We report the gene profiles of exhaustion-like and effector-like CD4 T cells in response to transplant antigen. To obain the transcprition landscapes of exhuasted and effector CD4 T cells , we generated RNA-seq of TCR transgeneic TEa cells in response to abundant IE-α antigen (exhuast) or to Balb/c skin grafts (effector). We find that TEa cells upregulated the expression level of key exhaustion genes, including Pdcd1, Tox, lag3, Cd38, Cd200, as well as downregulated the expression levels of effector genes Ifng, Gzmb, Prf1, Tbx21, Il2ra, Fasl and Klrg1. This study provides a better understanding of CD4 T cell exhaustion in response to alloantigen. Gene profiles of TEa cells in response to abundant or moderate IE-α antigen were generated.