mTORC1 couples immune signals and metabolic programming to establish T(reg)-cell function

Zeng H, Yang K, Cloer C, Neale G, Vogel P, Chi H · 2013 · Nature · Atlas ID ZEN2013

What this study shows

mTORC1 couples immune signals and metabolism to establish regulatory T-cell function.

Abstract

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The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway integrates diverse environmental inputs, including immune signals and metabolic cues, to direct T-cell fate decisions. The activation of mTOR, which is the catalytic subunit of the mTORC1 and mTORC2 complexes, delivers an obligatory signal for the proper activation and differentiation of effector CD4(+) T cells, whereas in the regulatory T-cell (T(reg)) compartment, the Akt-mTOR axis is widely acknowledged as a crucial negative regulator of T(reg)-cell de novo differentiation and population expansion.

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type	A Animal model Marked A because it is an animal intervention or observation study measuring an organismal outcome (model: Mouse); the code names the system studied -- animal work can be rigorous and still not be human data.
Study type	4 - Animal Study
Model system	Mouse
Journal	Nature
Year	2013
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1038/nature12297 · PMID 23812589 · Free full text (PMC3759242)

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

Intervention	Genetic (mTORC1 in Treg cells)
Target	mTORC1
Model	Mouse
Effect	mTORC1 couples immune signals and metabolic programming to establish regulatory T-cell function
Dose	not stated
Sample size	not stated
Effect size	not stated
Limitations	Normal health status of Cd4 cre Raptor fl/fl mice was likely due to impaired activation of conventional T cells, to be described elsewhere.

In the Atlas

Open questions that cite this study

Cited as supporting evidence for the open question Is there a low-dose mTOR schedule whose immune effects come out favourable, compartment by compartment?.

Cite this paper

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Zeng, H., Yang, K., Cloer, C., Neale, G., Vogel, P., & Chi, H. (2013). mTORC1 couples immune signals and metabolic programming to establish T(reg)-cell function. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12297

@article{ZEN2013,
  author       = {Zeng, H. and Yang, K. and Cloer, C. and Neale, G. and Vogel, P. and Chi, H.},
  title        = {{mTORC1 couples immune signals and metabolic programming to establish T(reg)-cell function}},
  journal      = {Nature},
  year         = {2013},
  doi          = {10.1038/nature12297},
  note         = {PMID: 23812589},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper.

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record ZEN2013) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/ZEN2013/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_ZEN2013,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record ZEN2013},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/ZEN2013/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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