{"doi":"10.1084/jem.20200464","title":"MERTK on mononuclear phagocytes regulates T cell antigen recognition at autoimmune and tumor sites","abstract":"Understanding mechanisms of immune regulation is key to developing immunotherapies for autoimmunity and cancer. We examined the role of mononuclear phagocytes during peripheral T cell regulation in type 1 diabetes and melanoma. MERTK expression and activity in mononuclear phagocytes in the pancreatic islets promoted islet T cell regulation, resulting in reduced sensitivity of T cell scanning for cognate antigen in prediabetic islets. MERTK-dependent regulation led to reduced T cell activation and effector function at the disease site in islets and prevented rapid progression of type 1 diabetes. In human islets, MERTK-expressing cells were increased in remaining insulin-containing islets of type 1 diabetic patients, suggesting that MERTK protects islets from autoimmune destruction. MERTK also regulated T cell arrest in melanoma tumors. These data indicate that MERTK signaling in mononuclear phagocytes drives T cell regulation at inflammatory disease sites in peripheral tissues through a mechanism that reduces the sensitivity of scanning for antigen leading to reduced responsiveness to antigen.","journal":"The Journal of Experimental Medicine","year":2021,"id":178660,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":19,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.961,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":560349,"name":"Jennifer C. Whitesell","orcid":"0000-0002-4535-6321","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":724560,"name":"Kristen Dew","orcid":"0000-0002-9933-1293","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":724561,"name":"Erika Rodriguez","orcid":"0000-0003-1352-5765","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":677035,"name":"Adam Sandor","orcid":"0000-0002-7208-8625","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":313602,"name":"Dayna Tracy","orcid":"0000-0003-2942-5195","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":724562,"name":"Seth Yannacone","orcid":"0000-0001-5286-0596","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":646262,"name":"Brittany Basta","orcid":"0000-0002-4569-6748","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":724563,"name":"Jordan Jacobelli","orcid":"0000-0001-6612-6704","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":400356,"name":"Rachel S. Friedman","orcid":"0000-0001-7549-6387","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":621263,"name":"Robin S. Lindsay","orcid":"0000-0001-7867-8653","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":78,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:47:40.592580Z","pmid":"34415994","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}