Migration rules: functional properties of naive and effector/memory-like regulatory T cell subsets.
Suppressor T cells were first described in the early 1970s, but since the hypothetical soluble suppressor factor could not be identified on a molecular level and since appropriate cellular markers were lacking, the suppressor T cell concept vanished for a long time. The discovery by Sakaguchi and co-workers, that the adoptive transfer of CD25+CD4+ -depleted T cells induced several organ-specific autoimmune diseases in immunodeficient recipients, put the suppressor T cell model back into the focus of many immunologists. CD25+CD4+ T cells were named regulatory T cells (Treg) and since then have been intensively characterized by many groups. It has now been well documented in a variety of models that CD25+CD4+ Tregs, in addition to cell-intrinsic peripheral tolerance mechanisms such as anergy induction and peripheral deletion, play indispensable roles in the maintenance of natural self-tolerance, in averting autoimmune responses as well as in controlling inflammatory reactions. However, a number of fundamental questions concerning their origin, mechanism of action, and the sites of suppression remain elusive and are currently a matter of debate. Notably, the potential heterogeneity of Tregs with respect to phenotype and function deserves attention and is a major issue discussed in this review.
Exp. Rheumatology, Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany. huehn@drfz.de
J
J
Huehn
K
K
Siegmund
A
A
Hamann
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002465:Cell Movement; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D016023:Integrins / Q000378:metabolism; D018448:Models, Immunological; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology*; D017634:Self Tolerance; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology
D015415:Biomarkers; D016023:Integrins; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; C070709:integrin alphaEbeta7