Regulatory T Cells and Kidney Transplantation

Abstract

The ability of the immune system to differentiate self from nonself is critical in determining the immune response to antigens expressed on transplanted tissue. Even with conventional immunosuppression, acceptance of the allograft is an active process often determined by the presence of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs classically are CD4 cells that constitutively express high levels of the IL-2 receptor chain CD25, along with the transcription factor Foxp3. The use of Tregs in the field of solid organ transplantation is related specifically to the objective of achieving tolerance, with the goal of reducing or eliminating immunosuppressive drugs as well as maintaining tissue repair and managing acute rejection. A key issue in clinical use of Tregs is how to effectively expand the number of Tregs, either through increasing numbers of endogenous Tregs or by the direct infusion of exogenously expanded Tregs. In order to realize the benefits of Treg therapy in solid organ transplantation, a number of outstanding challenges need to be overcome, including assuring an effective expansion of Tregs, improving long-term Treg stability and reduction of risk-related to off-target, nonspecific, immunosuppressive effects related specially to cancer.

Third-Party Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Prevent Rejection in a Pre-sensitized High-Risk Model of Corneal Transplantation

“…Regulatory T cells in the draining lymph node have been shown to be critically important for corneal allograft survival ( 35 , 36 ) and depletion of these cells negatively impacts the survival of the graft ( 37 ). Indeed, several groups have shown that adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells and other in vivo strategies to increase the numbers of regulatory T cells can have beneficial effects on transplant survival ( 5 , 38 – 40 ).…”

Stability and inhibitory function of Treg cells under inflammatory conditions in�vitro

“…Immunotherapy with transplanted Treg cells has been used in autoimmune diseases and other immune-associated diseases, including type-1 diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and graft vs. host disease (GVHD) (7–13). Culturing sufficient numbers of Treg cells in vitro is the foundation of Treg-based immunotherapy, and maintaining the stable inhibitory function of Treg cells in vivo is pivotal for successful treatment (8,9). However, the stability and inhibitory function of Treg cells in the internal inflammatory environment requires further systematic investigation.…”

Immune Infiltrating Cells in Cholangiocarcinoma May Become Clinical Diagnostic Markers: Based on Bioinformatics Analysis.

“…Co-expression analysis of the expression levels of immune cells obtained in this study showed that the correlation between T cells regulatory (Tregs) [10][11][12][13]and Neutrophils [14][15][16][17] was the strongest, with a coe cient of 0.78, and the two cells with the weakest correlation were Macrophages [18][19] and T cells follicular helper [20][21], the correlation coe cient is -0.59 (Figure 3). After obtaining the matrix of immune cells, we wondered whether these immune cells could distinguish between the normal group and the tumor group.…”