Comparative RNA-seq analysis of activated splenic CD4+ T cells in Arf-KO mice.

The small GTPase ADP-ribosylation factor (Arf) family, consisting of Arf1-Arf6 members, orchestrates vesicle trafficking and maintains cellular homeostasis. We have previously established mice lacking both Arf1 and Arf6 in T cell-lineage (Arf1fl/fl: Arf6fl/fl: Lck-Cre, referred to here as Arf-KO mice) and found that Arf-deficiency induced apoptosis in T cells in an activation-dependent manner. Here we assessed differential gene expression patterns in activated naïve CD4+ T cells between control and Arf-KO mice by RNA-seq analysis.Naïve CD4+ T cells were purified from the spleen of Arf-KO mice or their littermate control mice and stimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 mAbs for 2 days. In total 6 samples were analyzed: stimulated control CD4+ T cells (3 samples: 220512C, 220812C1, 220812C2) and stimulated Arf-KO CD4+ T cells (3 samples: 220512K, 220812K1, 220812K2).