Nature子刊：吴玉章/田易/张轶团队发现自身免疫和过敏疾病治疗新靶点——LARP4

Core Viewpoint - The study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering highlights the role of LARP4 in regulating the quiescence exit of naive CD4+ T cells, suggesting that inhibiting LARP4 could improve autoimmune and allergic diseases [2][3][6]. Group 1: Research Findings - Naive T cells are in a resting state and exit this state upon antigen stimulation, with LARP4 identified as a critical regulatory factor for this process [6]. - Conditional knockout of LARP4 in naive CD4+ T cells enhances their resting state and impedes quiescence exit, affecting the stability of several mRNAs crucial for T cell activation [6]. - The differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells into helper T cell subsets is impaired following LARP4 knockout, leading to improvements in autoimmune and allergic responses [6][8]. Group 2: Therapeutic Implications - The research team developed a LARP4 peptide inhibitor, LIPEP, which mimics the effects of LARP4 deficiency and alleviates the severity of autoimmune diseases and allergies in mouse models [6][8]. - The findings establish a link between RNA stability and the homeostasis/adaptive activation of CD4+ T cells, indicating that LARP4 could be a new target for preventing and treating autoimmune and allergic diseases [8].