Identification of unstable regulatory and autoreactive effector T cells that are expanded in patients with <i>FOXP3</i> mutations.

Abstract

Studies of the monogenic autoimmune disease immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked syndrome (IPEX) have elucidated the essential function of the transcription factor FOXP3 and thymic-derived regulatory T cells (T_regs) in controlling peripheral tolerance. However, the presence and the source of autoreactive T cells in IPEX remain undetermined. Here, we investigated how FOXP3 deficiency affects the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire and T_reg stability in vivo and compared T cell abnormalities in patients with IPEX with those in patients with autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy syndrome (APECED). To study T_regs independently of their phenotype and to analyze T cell autoreactivity, we combined T_reg-specific demethylation region analyses, single-cell multiomic profiling, and bulk TCR sequencing. We found that patients with IPEX, unlike patients with APECED, have expanded autoreactive T cells originating from both autoreactive effector T cells (T_effs) and T_regs. In addition, a fraction of the expanded T_regs from patients with IPEX lost their phenotypic and functional markers, including CD25 and FOXP3. Functional experiments with CRISPR-Cas9-mediated FOXP3 knockout T_regs and T_regs from patients with IPEX indicated that the patients' T_regs gain a T_H2-skewed T_eff-like function, which is consistent with immune dysregulation observed in these patients. Analyses of <i>FOXP3</i> mutation-carrier mothers and a patient with IPEX after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation indicated that T_regs expressing nonmutated <i>FOXP3</i> prevent the accumulation of autoreactive T_effs and unstable T_regs. These findings could be directly used for diagnostic and prognostic purposes and for monitoring the effects of immunomodulatory treatments.