It is well known that immune responses in the intestine remain in a state of controlled inflammation, suggesting that not only active suppression by regulatory T cells plays an important role in the normal intestinal homeostasis, but also its dysregulation leads to the development of inflammatory bowel disease. In this study, we demonstrate that the CD4+CD25bright T cells reside in the human intestinal lamina propria (LP) and functionally retain regulatory activities. All human LP CD4+ T cells regardless of CD25 expression constitutively expressed CTLA-4, glucocorticoid-induced TNFR family-related protein, and Foxp3 and proliferate poorly. Although LP CD4+CD25− T cells showed an activated and anergic/memory phenotype, they did not retain regulatory activity. In LP CD4+CD25+ T cells, however, cells expressing CD25 at high levels (CD4+CD25bright) suppressed the proliferation and various cytokine productions of CD4+CD25− T cells. LP CD4+CD25bright T cells by themselves produced fewer amounts of IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10. Interestingly, LP CD4+CD25bright T cells with regulatory T activity were significantly increased in patients with active inflammatory bowel disease. These results suggest that CD4+CD25bright T cells found in the normal and inflamed intestinal mucosa selectively inhibit the host immune response and therefore may contribute to the intestinal immune homeostasis.

These findings suggest that, via MyD88 signaling, the innate immune system in the gut plays an important protective role in colitis.

A newly identified costimulatory molecule, programmed death-1 (PD-1), provides a negative signal that is essential for immune homeostasis. However, it has been suggested that its ligands, B7-H1 (PD-L1) and B7-dendritic cells (B7-DC; PD-L2), could also costimulate T cell proliferation and cytokine secretion. Here we demonstrate the involvement of PD-1/B7-H1 and B7-DC interaction in the development of colitis. We first examined the expression profiles of PD-1 and its ligands in both human inflammatory bowel disease and a murine chronic colitis model induced by adoptive transfer of CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells to SCID mice. Second, we assessed the therapeutic potential of neutralizing anti-B7-H1 and/or B7-DC mAbs using this colitis model. We found significantly increased expression of PD-1 on T cells and of B7-H1 on T, B, and macrophage/DCs in inflamed colon from both inflammatory bowel disease patients and colitic mice. Unexpectedly, the administration of anti-B7-H1, but not anti-B7-DC, mAb after transfer of CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells suppressed wasting disease with colitis, abrogated leukocyte infiltration, and reduced the production of IFN-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α, but not IL-4 or IL-10, by lamina propria CD4+ T cells. These data suggest that the interaction of PD-1/B7-H1, but not PD-1/B7-DC, might be involved in intestinal mucosal inflammation and also show a possible role of interaction between B7-H1 and an as yet unidentified receptor for B7-H1 in inducing T cell activation.

Although IL-7 has recently emerged as a key cytokine involved in controlling the homeostatic turnover and the survival of peripheral resting memory CD4+ T cells, its potential to be sustained pathogenic CD4+ T cells in chronic immune diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, still remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that IL-7 is essential for the development and the persistence of chronic colitis induced by adoptive transfer of normal CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells or colitogenic lamina propria (LP) CD4+ memory T cells into immunodeficient IL-7+/+ × RAG-1−/− and IL-7−/− × RAG-1−/− mice. Although IL-7+/+ × RAG-1−/− recipients transferred with CD4+CD45RBhigh splenocytes developed massive inflammation of the large intestinal mucosa concurrent with massive expansion of Th1 cells, IL-7−/− × RAG-1−/− recipients did not. Furthermore, IL-7−/− × RAG-1−/−, but not IL-7+/+ × RAG-1−/−, mice transferred with LP CD4+CD44highCD62L−IL-7Rαhigh effector-memory T cells (TEM) isolated from colitic CD4+CD45RBhigh-transferred mice did not develop colitis. Although rapid proliferation of transferred colitogenic LP CD4+ TEM cells was observed in the in IL-7−/− × RAG-1−/− mice to a similar extent of those in IL-7+/+ × RAG-1−/− mice, Bcl-2 expression was significantly down-modulated in the transferred CD4+ T cells in IL-7−/− × RAG-1−/− mice compared with those in IL-7+/+ × RAG-1−/− mice. Taken together, IL-7 is essential for the development and the persistence of chronic colitis as a critical survival factor for colitogenic CD4+ TEM cells, suggesting that therapeutic approaches targeting IL-7/IL-7R signaling pathway may be feasible in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

It is well known that immune responses in the intestine remain in a state of controlled inflammation, suggesting that not only does active suppression by regulatory T (TREG) cells play an important role in the normal intestinal homeostasis, but also that its dysregulation of immune response leads to the development of inflammatory bowel disease. In this study, we demonstrate that murine CD4+CD25+ T cells residing in the intestinal lamina propria (LP) constitutively express CTLA-4, glucocorticoid-induced TNFR, and Foxp3 and suppress proliferation of responder CD4+ T cells in vitro. Furthermore, cotransfer of intestinal LP CD4+CD25+ T cells prevents the development of chronic colitis induced by adoptive transfer of CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells into SCID mice. When lymphotoxin (LT)α-deficient intercrossed Rag2 double knockout mice (LTα−/− × Rag2−/−), which lack mesenteric lymph nodes and Peyer’s patches, are transferred with CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells, they develop severe wasting disease and chronic colitis despite the delayed kinetics as compared with the control LTα+/+ × Rag2−/− mice transferred with CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells. Of note, when a mixture of splenic CD4+CD25+ TREG cells and CD4+CD45RBhigh T cells are transferred into LTα−/− × Rag2−/− recipients, CD4+CD25+ TREG cells migrate into the colon and prevent the development of colitis in LTα−/− × Rag2−/− recipients as well as in the control LTα+/+ × Rag2−/− recipients. These results suggest that the intestinal LP harboring CD4+CD25+ TREG cells contributes to the intestinal immune suppression.