c-Rel is crucial for the induction of Foxp3+ regulatory CD4+ T cells but not TH17 cells

✍ Scribed by Alexander Visekruna; Magdalena Huber; Anne Hellhund; Evita Bothur; Katharina Reinhard; Nadine Bollig; Nicole Schmidt; Thorsten Joeris; Michael Lohoff; Ulrich Steinhoff

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 228 KB
• Volume: 40
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2980
• DOI: 10.1002/eji.200940260

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The NF‐κB/Rel family member c‐Rel was described to be required for the development of T~H~1 responses. However, the role of c‐Rel in the differentiation of T~H~17 and regulatory CD4^+^Foxp3^+^ T cells (Treg) remains obscure. Here, we show that in the absence of c‐Rel, in vitro differentiation of pro‐inflammatory T~H~17 cells is normal. In contrast, generation of inducible Treg (iTreg) within c‐Rel‐deficient CD4^+^ T cells was severely hampered and correlated to reduced numbers of Foxp3^+^ T cells in vivo. Mechanistically, in vitro conversion of naive CD4^+^ T cells into iTreg was crucially dependent on c‐Rel‐mediated synthesis of endogenous IL‐2. The addition of exogenous IL‐2 was sufficient to rescue the development of c‐Rel‐deficient iTreg. Thus, c‐Rel is essential for the development of Foxp3^+^ Treg but not for T~H~17 cells via regulating the production of IL‐2.