Regulatory T-cell therapy: is it ready for the clinic?
The identification of suppressor T cells as important regulators of basic processes that are designed to maintain tolerance has opened an important area of potential clinical investigation in autoimmunity, graft-versus-host disease and transplantation. However, the field has been limited by an inability to define the antigenic specificities of these cells and by the small numbers of circulating regulatory T cells. Recently, new methods for expanding polyclonal and antigen-specific regulatory T cells have emerged. This article summarizes efforts to exploit regulatory T-cell therapy for the treatment of immunological diseases and poses the question of when and where regulatory T cells will first impact on clinical diseases.
Bluestone
Jeffrey A
JA
University of California at San Francisco Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0540, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, California 94143-0540, USA. jbluestdiabetes.ucsf.edu
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000639:trends; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*