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Frontiers of Medicine >> 2018, Volume 12, Issue 4 doi: 10.1007/s11684-018-0651-y

Deubiquitinases as pivotal regulators of T cell functions

1. Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China.

2. Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 7455 Fannin Street, Box 902, Houston, TX 77030, USA..

3.The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA

Available online: 2018-09-03

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Abstract

T cells efficiently respond to foreign antigens to mediate immune responses against infections but are tolerant to self-tissues. Defect in T cell activation is associated with severe immune deficiencies, whereas aberrant T cell activation contributes to the pathogenesis of diverse autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. An emerging mechanism that regulates T cell activation and tolerance is ubiquitination, a reversible process of protein modification that is counter-regulated by ubiquitinating enzymes and deubiquitinases (DUBs). DUBs are isopeptidases that cleave polyubiquitin chains and remove ubiquitin from target proteins, thereby controlling the magnitude and duration of ubiquitin signaling. It is now well recognized that DUBs are crucial regulators of T cell responses and serve as potential therapeutic targets for manipulating immune responses in the treatment of immunological disorders and cancer. This review will discuss the recent progresses regarding the functions of DUBs in T cells.

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