Essential Role for Retinoic Acid in the Promotion of CD4(+) T Cell Effector Responses via Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha Thumbnail zoom-icon

Essential Role for Retinoic Acid in the Promotion of CD4(+) T Cell Effector Responses via Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha

Jason A Hall 1, Jennifer L Cannons, John R Grainger, Liliane M Dos Santos, Timothy W Hand, Shruti Naik, Elizabeth A Wohlfert, David B Chou, Guillaume Oldenhove, Melody Robinson, Michael E Grigg, Robin Kastenmayer, Pamela L Schwartzberg, Yasmine Belkaid

Immunity, March 25, 2011

Vitamin A and its metabolite, retinoic acid (RA) are implicated in the regulation of immune homeostasis via the peripheral induction of regulatory T cells. Here we showed RA was also required to elicit proinflammatory CD4(+) helper T cell responses to infection and mucosal vaccination. Retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) was the critical mediator of these effects. Antagonism of RAR signaling and deficiency in RARα (Rara(-/-)) resulted in a cell-autonomous CD4(+) T cell activation defect, which impaired intermediate signaling events, including calcium mobilization. Altogether, these findings reveal a fundamental role for the RA-RARα axis in the development of both regulatory and inflammatory arms of adaptive immunity and establish nutritional status as a broad regulator of adaptive T cell responses.