The CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell dichotomy is essential for effective cellular immunity. How individual T cell identity is established remains poorly understood. Here we show that the high-mobility group (HMG) transcription factors Tcf1 and Lef1 are essential for repressing CD4(+) lineage-associated genes including Cd4, Foxp3 and Rorc in CD8(+) T cells. Tcf1- and Lef1-deficient CD8(+) T cells exhibit histone hyperacetylation, which can be ascribed to intrinsic histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity in Tcf1 and Lef1. Mutation of five conserved amino acids in the Tcf1 HDAC domain diminishes HDAC activity and the ability to suppress CD4(+) lineage genes in CD8(+) T cells. These findings reveal that sequence-specific transcription factors can utilize intrinsic HDAC activity to guard cell identity by repressing lineage-inappropriate genes.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
4
2%
Other
14
6%
Unknown
49
22%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 27. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 September 2026.
All research outputs
#1,834,040
of 34,675,792 outputs
Outputs from Nature Immunology
#1,184
of 5,138 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#22,678
of 337,883 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Immunology
#19
of 67 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,675,792 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,138 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 33.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 337,883 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 67 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
