title: Special regulatory T-cell review: Regulation of immune responses--examining the role of T cells.
abstract: The history of regulatory T cells goes back to the realisation that T cells could provide 'help' for antibody responses: the obverse of this is their ability to hold them in check. This brief personal overview follows the initial designation of T cells as 'suppressor' and the various hypotheses, some now disproved, put forward for their mechanism of action. We now cautiously label them T regulatory cells, but realise they do not control not all immune regulation. They probably operate through several mechanisms, and some of these are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK. esimpson@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008211:Lymphocyte Cooperation / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*; D009626:Terminology as Topic
chemical_list: D006183:H-2 Antigens