title: Extra-thymically induced regulatory T cells: do they have potential in disease prevention?
abstract: Fopx3(+) Treg safeguard against autoimmune diseases and immune pathology. The extrathymic conversion of naïve T cells into Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells can be achieved in vivo by the delivery of strong-agonist ligands under subimmunogenic conditions. Tolerogenic vaccination with strong-agonist mimetopes of self-antigen to promote self-antigen specific tolerance may represent the most specific and safest means of preventing autoimmunity. This review discusses the requirements for induction of dominant tolerance exerted by Foxp3(+) Tregs in autoimmunity with special emphasis on their impact to interfere with T1D. The future goals are the understanding of self-non-self discrimination at the cellular and molecular level, which should then enable investigators to develop clinical vaccination protocols that specifically interfere with unwanted immune responses.
authors: Laboratory of Lymphocyte Biology, Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Carolin
authors: C
authors: Daniel
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: von Boehmer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*; D014611:Vaccination