Control of immune homeostasis by naturally arising regulatory CD4+ T cells

✍ Scribed by Marc Gavin; Alexander Rudensky

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-7915
• DOI: 10.1016/j.coi.2003.09.011

✦ Synopsis

þ CD25 þ regulatory T (T R ) cells are essential negative regulators of multiple immune functions. Their development and function are critically dependent on the forkhead transcription factor Foxp3. IL-2R-derived signals are also required for their maturation and/or proliferation. Expression of the TNF receptor family member GITR appears to define this naturally arising, thymically derived lineage more accurately than CD25. T R cells suppress virtually all forms of immune responsiveness investigated to date, including both adaptive and innate immunity. T R cells are capable of robust antigen-driven proliferation in vivo, and may participate in clonal expansion in response to infection, similar to all other adaptive immune lineages.