RNA-Seq of ST2+ cytotoxic T cells, T helper 1 and T helper 2 cells

The pleiotropic alarmin interleukin-33 (IL-33) promotes the activity of many innate and adaptive immune cell subsets. Its receptor ST2 is constitutively expressed at high levels by type 2-biased immune cells including CD4+ T helper 2 (Th2) cells, innate lymphoid cells type 2 and highly potent regulatory T cells, allowing rapid sensing of IL-33 alarmin signals (Peine et al., 2015). In contrast, during viral infections, antiviral CD8+ cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) and CD4+ Th1 cells express ST2 at a low level in a transient and activation dependent way, suggesting that the ST2-coding gene Il1rl1 is regulated in a cell-type specific manner (Bonilla et al., 2012). To better understand the transcriptional regulation of the Il1rl1 gene in distinctly polarized T cells, we here performed RNA-Sequencing of in vitro activated, ST2 expressing CTLs, Th1 and Th2 cells. Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of the effects of IL-33 on CTLs, Th1 and Th2 cells using RNA-Seq and single-cell RNA-Seq of WT- and Il1rl1-ExAB-KO CTLs after an acute LCMV infection.