Loss of CD4+ T cell-intrinsic arginase 1 accelerates Th1 response kinetics and reduces lung pathology during influenza infection

Arginase 1 (Arg1), the enzyme catalyzing the conversion of arginine to ornithine, is a hallmark of IL-10-producing immunoregulatory M2 macrophages. However, its expression in T cells is disputed. Here, we demonstrate that induction of Arg1 expression is a key feature of lung CD4 + T cells during mouse in vivo influenza infection. Conditional ablation of Arg1 in CD4 + T cells accelerated both virus-specific T helper 1 (Th1) effector responses and its resolution, resulting in efficient viral clearance and reduced lung pathology. Using unbiased transcriptomics and metabolomics, we found that Arg1 -deficiency was distinct from Arg2 -deficiency and caused altered glutamine metabolism. Rebalancing this perturbed glutamine flux normalized the cellular Th1 response. CD4 + T cells from rare ARG1 -deficient patients or CRISPR-Cas9-mediated ARG1 -deletion in healthy donor cells phenocopied the murine cellular phenotype. Collectively, CD4 + T cell-intrinsic Arg1 functions as an unexpected rheostat regulating the kinetics of the mammalian Th1 lifecycle with implications for Th1-associated tissue pathologies.