Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41437740›Full record

ArticleThe FEBS journal2026

Hypoxia regulates Th17/Treg balance by altering chromatin accessibility and gene expression.

Mariana Cázares-Olivera, Shiyang Song, Sofia Ylinen, Talha Qureshi, Bin Li, Zhi Chen

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Article in The FEBS journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Mariana Cázares-OliveraFaculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Finland.ORCID 0000-0003-2371-9889
Shiyang SongCenter for Immune-Related Diseases at Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China.
Sofia YlinenFaculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Finland.
Talha QureshiFaculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Finland.
Bin LiCenter for Immune-Related Diseases at Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China.ORCID 0000-0002-7640-8884
Zhi ChenFaculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Finland.ORCID 0000-0002-4658-7463

Funding

Academy of FinlandResearch Council of Finland decision number: 325965
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hypoxia plays an important role in multiple biological processes, including inflammation, and modulates the T helper 17 (Th17) and regulatory T-cell (Treg) imbalance that often contributes to inflammatory diseases. Although the transcription factor (TF) hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) drives gene expression changes that promote Th17 differentiation, whether hypoxia modulates chromatin openness in Th17 and Treg cells has not been well characterized. Here, we applied assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to investigate how hypoxia alters the chromatin accessibility of Th17 and Treg cells, and how this correlates with the transcriptomic consequences that impact Th17/Treg balance. Our integrated analysis led to the identification of several factors that could contribute to shifting Treg differentiation toward a Th17 phenotype. Hypoxia induced extensive gene expression changes in Treg cells, compared with Th17, including a stronger upregulation of Hif1a, and increased expression of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) mRNA and protein. This crosstalk between hypoxia and STAT3 in Treg cells suggests a previously unknown potential regulatory mechanism influencing Treg cell differentiation. Furthermore, we highlight TFs protein C-ets-1 (ETS1), interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) and cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-3 (ATF3), which could be relevant modulators of T helper (Th) cell differentiation in hypoxic environments, such as inflamed tissue. Our study shows that hypoxia contributes to regulating the Th17 and Treg balance by increasing accessibility of key loci that are involved in Th cell differentiation and favor a Th17 phenotype. Our results provide valuable insight into how hypoxia alters chromatin accessibility and gene expression of TFs that, in addition to HIF-1α, could modulate Treg differentiation and shift the Th17/Treg balance in hypoxic environments.

Indexed as

ChromatinGene Expression RegulationHypoxiaTh17 CellsT-Lymphocytes, RegulatoryAnimalsCell DifferentiationCell HypoxiaHumansHypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha SubunitMiceSTAT3 Transcription FactorChromatinHif1a protein, mouseHypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha SubunitSTAT3 Transcription Factorchromatin accessibilityhypoxiainflammationTh17Treg

Identifiers

PMID41437740
PMCPMC13080242

What Socratic holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.