Regulatory T cells and immune tolerance.
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an indispensable role in maintaining immunological unresponsiveness to self-antigens and in suppressing excessive immune responses deleterious to the host. Tregs are produced in the thymus as a functionally mature subpopulation of T cells and can also be induced from naive T cells in the periphery. Recent research reveals the cellular and molecular basis of Treg development and function and implicates dysregulation of Tregs in immunological disease.
Sakaguchi
Shimon
S
Department of Experimental Pathology, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. shimon@frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Yamaguchi
Tomoyuki
T
Nomura
Takashi
T
Ono
Masahiro
M
D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D017634:Self Tolerance; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology