Doreen A. Cantrell
Studies how signaling and metabolism control T-cell fate, including how amino-acid uptake and mTORC1 steer T-cell differentiation.
Professor, Cell Signalling and Immunology, University of Dundee · Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow · FRS (2011), CBE (2014)
Portrait: University of Dundee
Doreen Cantrell is a professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, where she works in the division of Cell Signalling and Immunology. Her university profile lists her as a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Her group studies the signals that decide what a T cell becomes.
The Atlas study, led by Linda Sinclair, asked how T cells get the building blocks they need when an infection starts. When the T-cell receptor detects antigen, the cell raises many amino-acid transporters, but one of them, Slc7a5, does most of the work of importing large neutral amino acids such as leucine.
T cells lacking Slc7a5 could not switch their metabolism, could not multiply and could not become effector cells. The reason was that they could not bring in enough leucine to switch on mTORC1 and to make the growth factor c-Myc. Amino-acid transport therefore acts as a metabolic checkpoint for T cells.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | A | Control of amino-acid transport by antigen receptors coordinates the metabolic reprogramming essential for T cell differentiation SIN2013 Showed that antigen receptor signaling upregulates the amino-acid transporter Slc7a5, whose leucine uptake is needed for mTORC1 activity, c-Myc and T-cell differentiation. Cantrell is the senior author. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Doreen A. Cantrell.
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- Linda V. Sinclair T cell immunologist at the University of Dundee who works out how amino acid supply, through transporters such as SLC7A5, feeds mTORC1 and decides what activated T cells become
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