LINC01871 is exclusively expressed in T and NK cells and is highly induced upon CD4+ T cell activation

Ubaid Ullah Kalim; Ankitha Shetty; Amogh Ranade; Olof Rundquist; Inna Starskaia; Kedar Batkulwar; Tommi Välikangas; António G.G. Sousa; Antti Hurme; Venla Kumpulainen; Miro Viitala; Sakari Kosola; Sini Junttila; Omid Rasool; Laura L. Elo; Sanjeev Galande; Riitta Lahesmaa

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.113779

LINC01871 is exclusively expressed in T and NK cells and is highly induced upon CD4⁺ T cell activation

Ubaid Ullah Kalim^*
, Ankitha Shetty
, Amogh Ranade
, Olof Rundquist
, Inna Starskaia
, Kedar Batkulwar
, Tommi Välikangas
, António G.G. Sousa
, Antti Hurme
, Venla Kumpulainen
, Miro Viitala
, Sakari Kosola
, Sini Junttila
, Omid Rasool
, Laura L. Elo
, Sanjeev Galande
, Riitta Lahesmaa^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Turku Bioscience Centre

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) regulate biological processes in health and disease. Recent findings highlight the importance of lincRNAs in regulating T cell development and function. Here, we identified a lincRNA, LINC01871, which is highly induced upon CD4⁺ T cell activation and is predominantly located in the cytoplasm. The anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β was found to suppress its expression. Silencing LINC01871 led to a modest decrease in IL-2 secretion. Notably, LINC01871 expression was highly specific to NK cells and T cells in several cross-tissue single cell RNA-seq atlases. These data suggest that LINC01871 is specifically expressed in T and NK cells and may contribute to T cell-mediated immunity in humans.

Original language	English
Article number	113779
Journal	iScience
Volume	28
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113779
Publication status	Published - 21 Nov 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

We acknowledge the core facilities at Turku Bioscience Center: The Finnish Functional Genomics Center, Cell Imaging and Cytometry Core, and Proteomics Facility, supported by Biocenter Finland , for their assistance in next-generation sequencing, flow cytometry and imaging, and mass spectrometry analyses, respectively. The Finnish Center for Scientific Computing is duly acknowledged for its efficient servers and data analysis resources. R.L. is supported by Research Council of Finland grants 250114, 292335, 294337, 292482, 319280, 329277, 331793, 335435, and 31444; Breakthrough T1D Foundation grant; the Novo Nordisk Foundation grant NNF19OC0057218 ; Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation grant; and the Finnish Cancer Foundation grant. L.L.E. is supported by European Research Council ERC 677943, European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program 955321; and Research Council of Finland grants 310561 , 314443 , 329278 , 335434 , 335611 , and 341342 . R.L. and L.L.E. were supported by the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation , Turku Graduate School University of Turku , Åbo Akademi University InFLAMES Flagship Program of the Research Council of Finland 337530, Biocenter Finland , and ELIXIR Finland. AGGS was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no.: 955321. O Rundquist. was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Sakari Alhopuro Foundation grants, K.B. was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation grant.

Keywords

Cell biology
Immunology
Molecular biology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.isci.2025.113779Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

PIIS2589004225020401Final published version, 3.01 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202601279147

Cite this

Kalim, U. U., Shetty, A., Ranade, A., Rundquist, O., Starskaia, I., Batkulwar, K., Välikangas, T., Sousa, A. G. G., Hurme, A., Kumpulainen, V., Viitala, M., Kosola, S., Junttila, S., Rasool, O., Elo, L. L., Galande, S., & Lahesmaa, R. (2025). LINC01871 is exclusively expressed in T and NK cells and is highly induced upon CD4⁺ T cell activation. iScience, 28(11), Article 113779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113779

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title = "LINC01871 is exclusively expressed in T and NK cells and is highly induced upon CD4+ T cell activation",

abstract = "Long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) regulate biological processes in health and disease. Recent findings highlight the importance of lincRNAs in regulating T cell development and function. Here, we identified a lincRNA, LINC01871, which is highly induced upon CD4+ T cell activation and is predominantly located in the cytoplasm. The anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β was found to suppress its expression. Silencing LINC01871 led to a modest decrease in IL-2 secretion. Notably, LINC01871 expression was highly specific to NK cells and T cells in several cross-tissue single cell RNA-seq atlases. These data suggest that LINC01871 is specifically expressed in T and NK cells and may contribute to T cell-mediated immunity in humans.",

keywords = "Cell biology, Immunology, Molecular biology",

author = "Kalim, \{Ubaid Ullah\} and Ankitha Shetty and Amogh Ranade and Olof Rundquist and Inna Starskaia and Kedar Batkulwar and Tommi V{\"a}likangas and Sousa, \{Ant{\'o}nio G.G.\} and Antti Hurme and Venla Kumpulainen and Miro Viitala and Sakari Kosola and Sini Junttila and Omid Rasool and Elo, \{Laura L.\} and Sanjeev Galande and Riitta Lahesmaa",

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Kalim, UU, Shetty, A, Ranade, A, Rundquist, O, Starskaia, I, Batkulwar, K, Välikangas, T, Sousa, AGG, Hurme, A, Kumpulainen, V, Viitala, M, Kosola, S, Junttila, S, Rasool, O, Elo, LL, Galande, S & Lahesmaa, R 2025, 'LINC01871 is exclusively expressed in T and NK cells and is highly induced upon CD4⁺ T cell activation', iScience, vol. 28, no. 11, 113779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113779

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T1 - LINC01871 is exclusively expressed in T and NK cells and is highly induced upon CD4+ T cell activation

AU - Kalim, Ubaid Ullah

AU - Shetty, Ankitha

AU - Ranade, Amogh

AU - Rundquist, Olof

AU - Starskaia, Inna

AU - Batkulwar, Kedar

AU - Välikangas, Tommi

AU - Sousa, António G.G.

AU - Hurme, Antti

AU - Kumpulainen, Venla

AU - Viitala, Miro

AU - Kosola, Sakari

AU - Junttila, Sini

AU - Rasool, Omid

AU - Elo, Laura L.

AU - Galande, Sanjeev

AU - Lahesmaa, Riitta

PY - 2025/11/21

Y1 - 2025/11/21

N2 - Long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) regulate biological processes in health and disease. Recent findings highlight the importance of lincRNAs in regulating T cell development and function. Here, we identified a lincRNA, LINC01871, which is highly induced upon CD4+ T cell activation and is predominantly located in the cytoplasm. The anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β was found to suppress its expression. Silencing LINC01871 led to a modest decrease in IL-2 secretion. Notably, LINC01871 expression was highly specific to NK cells and T cells in several cross-tissue single cell RNA-seq atlases. These data suggest that LINC01871 is specifically expressed in T and NK cells and may contribute to T cell-mediated immunity in humans.

AB - Long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) regulate biological processes in health and disease. Recent findings highlight the importance of lincRNAs in regulating T cell development and function. Here, we identified a lincRNA, LINC01871, which is highly induced upon CD4+ T cell activation and is predominantly located in the cytoplasm. The anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β was found to suppress its expression. Silencing LINC01871 led to a modest decrease in IL-2 secretion. Notably, LINC01871 expression was highly specific to NK cells and T cells in several cross-tissue single cell RNA-seq atlases. These data suggest that LINC01871 is specifically expressed in T and NK cells and may contribute to T cell-mediated immunity in humans.

KW - Cell biology

KW - Immunology

KW - Molecular biology

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