Nemo-like Kinase Drives Foxp3 Stability and Is Critical for Maintenance of Immune Tolerance by Regulatory T Cells.

The Foxp3 transcription factor is a crucial determinant of both regulatory T (T) cell development and their functional maintenance. Appropriate modulation of tolerogenic immune responses therefore requires the tight regulation of Foxp3 transcriptional output， and this involves both transcriptional and post-translational regulation. Here， we show that during T cell activation， phosphorylation of Foxp3 in T cells can be regulated by a TGF-β activated kinase 1 (TAK1)-Nemo-like kinase (NLK) signaling pathway. NLK interacts and phosphorylates Foxp3 in T cells， resulting in the stabilization of protein levels by preventing association with the STUB1 E3-ubiquitin protein ligase. Conditional T cell NLK-knockout (NLK) results in decreased T cell-mediated immunosuppression in vivo， and NLK-deficient T cell animals develop more severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Our data suggest a molecular mechanism， in which stimulation of TCR-mediated signaling can induce a TAK1-NLK pathway to sustain Foxp3 transcriptional activity through the stabilization of protein levels， thereby maintaining T cell suppressive function.