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Original Article |
Correspondence to: Warren Strober, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, Rm. 11N238, 10 Center Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892. Tel:301-496-6810 Fax:301-402-2240 E-mail:wstrober{at}niaid.nih.gov.
CD4+CD25+ T cells have been identified as a population of immunoregulatory T cells, which mediate suppression of CD4+CD25- T cells by cellcell contact and not secretion of suppressor cytokines. In this study, we demonstrated that CD4+CD25+ T cells do produce high levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1 and interleukin (IL)-10 compared with CD4+CD25- T cells when stimulated by plate-bound anti-CD3 and soluble anti-CD28 and/or IL-2, and secretion of TGF-ß1 (but not other cytokines), is further enhanced by costimulation via cytotoxic T lymphocyteassociated antigen (CTLA)-4. As in prior studies, we found that CD4+CD25+ T cells suppress proliferation of CD4+CD25- T cells; however, we observed here that such suppression is abolished by the presence of antiTGF-ß. In addition, we found that CD4+CD25+ T cells suppress B cell immunoglobulin production and that antiTGF-ß again abolishes such suppression. Finally, we found that stimulated CD4+CD25+ T cells but not CD4+CD25- T cells express high and persistent levels of TGF-ß1 on the cell surface. This, plus the fact that we could find no evidence that a soluble factor mediates suppression, strongly suggests that CD4+CD25+ T cells exert immunosuppression by a cellcell interaction involving cell surface TGF-ß1.
Key Words: T lymphocytes, suppressor-effector, CD4-positive T lymphocytes, receptors, interleukin 2, transforming growth factors, autoimmune diseases
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