An amphiregulin reporter mouse enables transcriptional and clonal expansion analysis of reparative lung Treg cells [RNA-Seq]

Treg cells play critical roles in tissue repair processes, certain of which are mediated by production of the growth factor amphiregulin (Areg). We developed a knock-in mouse model for detection of Areg production in live Treg cells, inserting a Thy1a (Thy1.1) construct into the endogenous Areg locus, such that for every transcript of Areg that is translated, a Thy1.1 transcript is also translated and trafficked separately to the cell surface. We used this mouse model to sort for Thy1.1- or Thy1.1+ (Areg-producing or -non-producing) lung Treg cells in models of lung damage (influenza A virus infection and bleomycin acute lung injury), and used them for assessment of gene expression and clonal expansion of these populations.