title: Interferon gamma: friend or foe?
abstract: Interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) can elicit an inflammatory TH1-driven immune response but has also been found to be necessary for long-term allograft survival induced by costimulation blockade. Recently, we have found that regulatory T cells rapidly and transiently produce IFN-gamma creating a microenvironment that can influence the function of antigen presenting cells (APCs), T-cell proliferation and activation as well as T-cell effector mechanisms, thereby controlling immune responses locally. Moreover, addition of IFN-gamma to cocultures of T cells and APCs can drive the generation of T cells with regulatory activity. Thus, the influence of IFN-gamma on the immune response to a transplant is likely to be context dependent.
authors.affiliation: Transplantation Research Immunology Group, Nuffield Department of Surgery, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom. kathryn.wood@nds.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Kathryn J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sawitzki
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bushell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018448:Models, Immunological
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma