They are made available as submitted
by the authors. “
“The intestinal immune system potently supports the generation of induced Treg (iTreg) cells. Within intestinal lymphoid compartments iTreg cells receive homing cues, which direct learn more these cells to the gut lamina propria where they expand and locally suppress immune responses. Yet iTreg cells are but one side of a coin, the other side of which comprises natural Treg (nTreg) cells generated in the thymus. nTreg cells, which act in concert with iTreg cells, also acquire a diversified pattern of homing receptors. Thus iTreg and nTreg cells can enter the gut, and draining lymph nodes to cooperatively ensure intestinal homeostasis. The discovery that T cells can inhibit the proliferation and effector functions of other immune competent cells resulted in the description of a perplexing variety of repressor T cells, now subsumed under the term Treg cells. Since conventional CD4+ T (Tconv) cells may rapidly acquire inhibitory potential in their own right after stimulation [1], a detailed functional characterization of Treg cells requires additional
parameters apart from mere inhibitory capacity. Earlier work relied on CD25 as a marker for Treg cells [2] but only since the transcription factor Foxp3 was identified has it been possible to more stringently define Treg-cell subpopulations, rendering the work of different laboratories into these cells more comparable. Foxp3+ Treg cells are considered the most relevant Treg-cell subset and can be click here divided into those that arise in thymus or are induced Torin 1 cost in periphery from FoxP3− Tconv cells. For the former, the term, natural Treg (nTreg) cells was coined whereas the latter are called induced Treg (iTreg) cells. Based
on high-throughput sequencing and transcriptional profiling, recent insights demonstrated that iTreg cells and nTreg cells differ from each other, fulfilling nonredundant functions [3-6]. This makes it difficult to interpret earlier findings that engaged peripheral Treg cells as a whole as a source for experimentation. Nevertheless, a picture is emerging giving credit to the idea that nTreg cells resemble Tconv cells in their initial migratory pattern, that is, nTreg cells leaving the thymus express the homing molecules CCR7 and CD62L [7], allowing them to home to secondary lymphoid organs (SLOs) (Fig. 1). nTreg cells recirculate throughout SLOs but, in contrast to conventional CD4+ T cells, a substantial proportion of nTreg cells shows a high tendency to propagate in the periphery even under subinflammatory conditions. This might be due to the encounter with self-antigen for which nTreg cells were initially selected for in the thymus. Such antigen-driven maturation is accompanied by down-modulation of CCR7 and CD62L and the concomitant acquisition of a distinct homing potential shaped by the peripheral SLO in which the antigen was encountered [7-9].