Supplementary Figure 7: Schematics of autophagy in T_reg cell functional integrity and immune tolerance.

Environmental cues drive the activation and functional maturation of T_reg cells, but also potently activate mTORC1 which could be detrimental to T_reg cell maintenance. Consequently, activated T_reg cells upregulate autophagy in response to immune and inflammatory signals to protect their functional integrity by coordinately regulating lineage stability and survival. Specifically, autophagy downregulates the mTORC1-c-Myc pathway to maintain the metabolic homeostasis to support lineage stability of T_reg cells. Additionally, autophagy is crucial for inhibiting the apoptotic pathway, which is partially mediated by restraining mTORC1 activity. In the absence of autophagy, the impaired lineage stability and increased apoptosis of T_reg cells lead to the loss of T_reg cell-mediated immune tolerance.