PTPN22 R620W gene editing in T cells enhances low avidity TCR responses
A genetic variant in the gene PTPN22 (R620W, rs2476601) is strongly associated with increased risk for multiple autoimmune diseases and has been linked to altered TCR regulation. Here, we utilize Crispr/Cas9 gene editing with donor DNA repair templates in human cord blood-derived, naive T cells to generate PTPN22 risk edited, non-risk edited (silent modification), or knock out T cells from the same donor. PTPN22 risk edited cells exhibited increased activation marker expression following non-specific TCR engagement, findings that mimicked PTPN22 KO cells. Next, using lentiviral delivery of T1D patient-derived islet-antigen specific TCRs, we demonstrate that loss of PTPN22 function led to enhanced signaling in T cells expressing a lower avidity self-reactive TCR. In this setting, loss of PTPN22 mediated enhanced proliferation and Th1 skewing. Importantly, expression of the risk variant in association with a lower avidity TCR also increased proliferation relative to PTPN22 non-risk T cells. Together, these findings suggest that, in primary human T cells, PTPN22 rs2476601 contributes to autoimmunity risk by permitting increased TCR signaling in mildly self-reactive T cells, thereby potentially expanding the self-reactive T cell pool and skewing this population toward an inflammatory phenotype.