The dysregulation of T cell responses is the cause of many autoimmune dis¬orders. Although the involvement of T cell–¬intrinsic pathways in regulating T cell differentiation and function has been well described, how T cell development is triggered by extrinsic pathways and physiological and pathological stimuli remains poorly understood. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most important antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that bridge innate and adaptive immunity by triggering the activation and differentiation of naive T cells. By using a combination of approaches including mouse genetics, cellular immunology and biochemistry, as well as models of autoimmune inflammatory and infectious diseases, our findings demonstrate that DCs employ intracellular MAPK pathway to program multiple T cell lineage choices and functions, thus orchestrating tolerance and immunity. Significant insight into the physiological roles of signaling pathways could impact our understanding of fundamental mechanisms of immune regulation and manifest legitimate therapeutic opportunities.

Dr. Gonghua Huang obtained his Ph.D. from Sun Yat-sen University in 2007. After that, he went to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (USA) for postdoctoral training with Dr. Hongbo Chi. In September 2013, he joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine/Shanghai Institute of Immunology as a Principal Investigator. His research is to understand the signaling mechanisms that control the differentiation and function of T cells. Specifically, he is interested in dendritic cell-mediated extrinsic control of T cell differentiation and function, by focusing on MAPK signaling pathways. His findings have been published in several high prestigious journals, such as Nature Immunology, Immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Science Signaling and The Journal of Immunology. His researches have been supported by Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF, USA), National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 program).