PLoS ONE 2015-01-01

Brown adipose tissue harbors a distinct sub-population of regulatory T cells.

Dasa Medrikova, Tjeerd P Sijmonsma, Katharina Sowodniok, David M Richards, Michael Delacher, Carsten Sticht, Norbert Gretz, Tobias Schafmeier, Markus Feuerer, Stephan Herzig

Index: PLoS ONE 10(2) , e0118534, (2015)

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Abstract

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are critical determinants of both immune responses and metabolic control. Here we show that systemic ablation of Treg cells compromised the adaptation of whole-body energy expenditure to cold exposure, correlating with impairment in thermogenic marker gene expression and massive invasion of pro-inflammatory macrophages in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Indeed, BAT harbored a unique sub-set of Treg cells characterized by a unique gene signature. As these Treg cells respond to BAT activation upon cold exposure, this study defines a BAT-specific Treg sub-set with direct implications for the regulation of energy homeostasis in response to environmental stress.