Eos mediates Foxp3-dependent gene silencing in CD4+ regulatory T cells

Eos expression in Treg cells have been documented by several microarrays including ours. We hypothesized that Eos facilitates Foxp3- dependent gene repression in Regulatory T cells. In order to investigate the role of Eos in mediating the Foxp3-dependent gene silencing program, we utilized lentiviral shRNA knockdown of Eos in natural Tregs isolated from the periphery of Balb/C mice. A renilla luciferase (RL) gene specific shRNA lentivirus was used as a control for the transduction of cells. The transcriptional profile of naive T cells, natural Tregs, Eos knockdown Tregs, and control shRNA knockdown Tregs was compared using Agilent 4x 44K whole mouse genome array. The goal of this microarray is to document the global effect of the loss of Eos expression on the transcriptional profile of natrual Treg cells. Eos knock-down (si-Eos) was mediated by Lentivirus expressing GFP as a reporter of transduction and sorting marker. Renilla luciferase specific shRNA lentiviral transduction was carried out in parallel as a control. Naïve (CD4+CD25-CD62Lhi) T cells and nTreg cells were freshly isolated from Balb/C mice.