The transcription factor IRF4 impedes human CD8 T-cell function and promotes cells proliferation and PD-1 expression

The transcription factor IRF4 is well known to be quickly upregulated after TCR activation, and magnitude of IRF4 expression is proportional to the strength of TCR activation. However, contradictory reports have been published as to the role of IRF4 in mouse T-cells during acute and chronic viral infections. Furthermore, no data have been published as to the role of IRF4 in human CD8 T-cells, both in normal and pathological conditions. In this work, we subjected CD8 T-cells from healthy donors to IRF4 overexpression or knock-out and assessed the impact of these modifications on T-cell functions and transcriptome.