Phosphorylation status determines the opposing functions of Smad2/Smad3 as STAT3 cofactors in TH17 differentiation

Jeong-Hwan Yoon1, Katsuko Sudo2, Masahiko Kuroda3

  • 11] Department of Experimental Pathology, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan [2] Department of Molecular Pathology, Tokyo Medical University, 6-1-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8402, Japan [3] Department of Internal Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, 50 SAMDUK-2GA, Jungu, Daegu 700-721, Republic of Korea.

Nature Communications
|July 22, 2015
PubMed

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) are the pivotal cytokines to induce IL-17-producing CD4(+) T helper cells (TH17); yet their signalling network remains largely unknown. Here we show that the highly homologous TGF-β receptor-regulated Smads (R-Smads): Smad2 and Smad3 oppositely modify STAT3-induced transcription of IL-17A and retinoic acid receptor-related orphan nuclear receptor, RORγt encoded by Rorc, by acting as a co-activator and co-repressor of STAT3, respectively. Smad2 linker phosphorylated by extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) at the serine 255 residue interacts with STAT3 and p300 to transactivate, whereas carboxy-terminal unphosphorylated Smad3 interacts with STAT3 and protein inhibitor of activated STAT3 (PIAS3) to repress the Rorc and Il17a genes. Our work uncovers carboxy-terminal phosphorylation-independent noncanonical R-Smad-STAT3 signalling network in TH17 differentiation.

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