Bioinformatics Seminar
Time:
Venue: Na
15 December 2020
NaIntegrated epigenetic and transcriptional profiling reveals sex-specific adipose tissue imprinting of regulatory T cells
David ChisangaOlivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
Adipose tissue ; commonly referred to as body fat is a dynamic endocrine organ whose main function is as an energy repository together with cushioning and insulating the body. Especially ; visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is critical for the regulation of systemic energy homeostasis by acting as a caloric reservoir. Therefore ; the impairment of VAT function like in obesity is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Regulatory T (Treg) cells that express the transcription factor FOXP3 are critical for limiting immune responses and suppressing tissue inflammation ; including in the VAT. In this talk ; I will share results from an integrated analysis of epigenetic and transcriptome datasets to uncover distinct sexual differences in Treg cells in the VAT. Our results showed that VAT in males was enriched for Treg cells in comparison to VAT in females ; and Treg cells from VAT in males were strikingly different from their female counterparts in phenotype ; transcriptional landscape and chromatin accessibility. Overall ; we find that sex-specific differences in Treg cells from VAT are determined by the tissue niche in a sex-hormone-dependent manner to limit adipose tissue inflammation.