title: Cutting edge: A critical role of B and T lymphocyte attenuator in peripheral T cell tolerance induction.
abstract: T cell activation and tolerance are delicately regulated by costimulatory molecules. Although B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) has been shown as a negative regulator for T cell activation, its role in peripheral T cell tolerance induction in vivo has not been addressed. In this study, we generated a novel strain of BTLA-deficient mice and used three different models to characterize the function of BTLA in controlling T cell tolerance. In an oral tolerance model, BTLA-deficient mice were found resistant to the induction of T cell tolerance to an oral Ag. Moreover, compared with wild-type OT-II cells, BTLA(-/-) OT-II cells were less susceptible to tolerance induction by a high-dose OVA peptide administered i.v. Finally, BTLA(-/-) OT-I cells caused autoimmune diabetes in RIP-mOVA recipient mice. Our results thus demonstrate an important role for BTLA in the induction of peripheral tolerance of both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Xikui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alexiou
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Martin-Orozco
authors.forename: Yeonseok
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Roza I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Nurieva
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kollias
authors.forename: Sijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Graf
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dong