Regulation of T cell gene expression by Halofuginone (HF)

T cell differentiation to the Th17 effector subset requires stimulation through the T cell and co-stimulatory receptors, together with cytokine stimulation by TGFb and IL-6. The small molecule halofuginone (HF) inhibits Th17 cell development and induces a pattern of stress-regulated gene expression that mimics amino acid starvation. We used global transcript profiling to ask how halofuginone modulates gene expression induced during T cell activaiton and Th17 differentiation Keywords: T cell activation/ differentiation timecourse Purified mouse CD4+ CD25- T cells were activated under Th17 polarizing cytokine conditions and treated with either halofuginone or its inactive derivative, MAZ1310, for 3- or 6-hours.