Genome-scale perturb-seq in primary human CD4(+) T cells maps context-specific regulators of T cell programs and human immune traits.

Genome-scale perturb-seq in primary human CD4(+) T cells reveals that gene regulatory networks controlling immune pathways are highly context-specific, with regulators changing dramatically across stimulation conditions.

• Why it matters: Understanding how gene regulation varies with cellular context is crucial for decoding immune functions and disease mechanisms, yet systematic mapping in relevant human cell states remains limited.
• What they did: Researchers perturbed all expressed genes in 22 million primary human CD4(+) T cells from four donors and measured transcriptome effects using a probe-based perturb-seq platform at rest and after stimulation.
• The result: The study identified regulators of cytokine production and T cell polarization, linked gene programs to age-related phenotypes, and implicated context-specific pathways in autoimmune disease risk, providing a foundational resource for immune research.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.