{"doi":"10.1126/science.aba4220","title":"SLFN2 protection of tRNAs from stress-induced cleavage is essential for T cell–mediated immunity","abstract":"Reactive oxygen species (ROS) increase in activated T cells because of metabolic activity induced to support T cell proliferation and differentiation. We show that these ROS trigger an oxidative stress response that leads to translation repression. This response is countered by Schlafen 2 (SLFN2), which directly binds transfer RNAs (tRNAs) to protect them from cleavage by the ribonuclease angiogenin. T cell-specific SLFN2 deficiency results in the accumulation of tRNA fragments, which inhibit translation and promote stress-granule formation. Interleukin-2 receptor β (IL-2Rβ) and IL-2Rγ fail to be translationally up-regulated after T cell receptor stimulation, rendering SLFN2-deficient T cells insensitive to interleukin-2's mitogenic effects. SLFN2 confers resistance against the ROS-mediated translation-inhibitory effects of oxidative stress normally induced by T cell activation, permitting the robust protein synthesis necessary for T cell expansion and immunity.","journal":"Science","year":2021,"id":151545,"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":82,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9471,"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":364911,"name":"Xiaoming Zhan","orcid":"0000-0003-2045-5259","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":585465,"name":"Duanwu Zhang","orcid":"0000-0003-2946-846X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":579620,"name":"Ruchi Jain","orcid":"0000-0001-9547-023X","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383985,"name":"Kuan-Wen Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-4208-2046","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":364905,"name":"Jin Huk Choi","orcid":"0000-0003-2483-4379","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":364909,"name":"Takuma Misawa","orcid":"0000-0003-4642-6229","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":364907,"name":"Lijing Su","orcid":"0000-0003-1533-0988","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":576804,"name":"Jiexia Quan","orcid":"0000-0002-4762-3833","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383986,"name":"Sara Hildebrand","orcid":"0000-0002-5534-3604","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383988,"name":"Darui Xu","orcid":"0000-0003-1117-966X","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":364915,"name":"Xiaohong Li","orcid":"0000-0001-8357-5587","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":395803,"name":"Emre E. Turer","orcid":"0000-0001-8782-3648","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":644243,"name":"Lei Sun","orcid":"0000-0001-8741-0202","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":364918,"name":"Eva Marie Y. Moresco","orcid":"0000-0002-2049-7291","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":51949,"name":"Bruce Beutler","orcid":"0000-0002-3639-246X","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383984,"name":"Tao Yue","orcid":"0000-0001-5417-2826","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":66,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:43:16.823357Z","pmid":"33986151","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":[]}