Regulation of immunity by self-reactive T cells.
A basic principle of immunology is that lymphocytes respond to foreign antigens but tolerate self tissues. For developing T cells, the ability to distinguish self from non-self is acquired in the thymus, where the majority of self-reactive cells are eliminated. Recently, however, it has become apparent that some self-reactive T cells avoid being destroyed and instead differentiate into specialized regulatory cells. This appears to be beneficial. Subpopulations of self-reactive T cells have a strong influence on self tolerance and may represent targets for therapeutic intervention to control a variety of autoimmune diseases, tumour growth and infection.
Kronenberg
Mitchell
M
La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 10355 Science Center Drive, San Diego, California 92121, USA. mitch@liai.org
Rudensky
Alexander
A
D000818:Animals; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology*; D019070:Cell Lineage; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*
D016207:Cytokines