title: Advances in distinguishing natural from induced Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells.
abstract: For more than a decade now, the regulatory T (Treg) cell has widely been considered as a critical subpopulation of T cells which can suppress effector T cell responses as well as suppressing the activity of other immune cells, such as mast cell, dendritic cells, and B cells. Treg cells have been broadly characterized as comprising of two main populations: thymus-derived natural Treg (nTreg) cells, and peripherally generated induced Treg (iTreg) cells. Both subsets have similar phenotypic characteristics and comparable suppressive function against T cell-mediated immune response and diseases. However, both Foxp3 positive Treg subsets exhibit some specific differences such as different mRNA transcripts and protein expression, epigenetic modification, and stability. These subtle differences reinforce the notion that they represent unique and distinct subsets. Accurately distinguishing iTregs from nTregs will help to clarify the biological features and contributions of each Treg subsets in peripheral tolerance, autoimmunity and tumor immunity. One difficult problem is that it has not been possible to distinguish iTregs from nTregs using surface markers until two recent articles were published to address this possibility. This review will focus on very recent advances in using molecular markers to differentiate these Treg subsets.
authors: Organ Transplant Center, 1st affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, 510080, PR China.
authors: Xiaohong
authors: X
authors: Lin
authors: Maogen
authors: M
authors: Chen
authors: Ya
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Zhiyong
authors: Z
authors: Guo
authors: Xiaoshun
authors: X
authors: He
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Brand
authors: Song Guo
authors: SG
authors: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D051740:Ikaros Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D039942:Neuropilin-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C111431:IKZF2 protein, human; D039942:Neuropilin-1; D051740:Ikaros Transcription Factor
keywords: Foxp3; Helios; Treg; neuropilin 1