title: Comparative Analysis of Protocols to Induce Human CD4+Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells by Combinations of IL-2, TGF-beta, Retinoic Acid, Rapamycin and Butyrate.
abstract: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) suppress other immune cells and are critical mediators of peripheral tolerance. Therapeutic manipulation of Tregs is subject to numerous clinical investigations including trials for adoptive Treg transfer. Since the number of naturally occurring Tregs (nTregs) is minute, it is highly desirable to develop a complementary approach of inducing Tregs (iTregs) from naïve T cells. Mouse studies exemplify the importance of peripherally induced Tregs as well as the applicability of iTreg transfer in different disease models. Yet, procedures to generate iTregs are currently controversial, particularly for human cells. Here we therefore comprehensively compare different established and define novel protocols of human iTreg generation using TGF-β in combination with other compounds. We found that human iTregs expressed several Treg signature molecules, such as Foxp3, CTLA-4 and EOS, while exhibiting low expression of the cytokines Interferon-γ, IL-10 and IL-17. Importantly, we identified a novel combination of TGF-β, retinoic acid and rapamycin as a robust protocol to induce human iTregs with superior suppressive activity in vitro compared to currently established induction protocols. However, iTregs generated by these protocols did not stably retain Foxp3 expression and did not suppress in vivo in a humanized graft-versus-host-disease mouse model, highlighting the need for further research to attain stable, suppressive iTregs. These results advance our understanding of the conditions enabling human iTreg generation and may have important implications for the development of adoptive transfer strategies targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Computational Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet & Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Unit of Computational Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet & Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Matilda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.affiliation: Unit of Computational Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet & Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ming-Mei
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunogenetics, Tumor Immunology Program, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weyd
authors.affiliation: Unit of Computational Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet & Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tegnér
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002087:Butyrates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000378:metabolism; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000378:metabolism; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D008745:Methylation; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000494:pharmacology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D002087:Butyrates; C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D020381:Interleukin-17; D007376:Interleukin-2; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D016753:Interleukin-10; D014212:Tretinoin; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D020123:Sirolimus