CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T (Treg) cells mediate immunological self-tolerance and suppress immune responses. Retinoic acid (RA), a natural metabolite of vitamin A, has been reported to enhance the differentiation of Treg cells in the presence of TGF-β. In this study, we show that the co-culture of naive T cells from C57BL/6 mice with allogeneic antigen-presenting cells (APCs) from BALB/c mice in the presence of TGF-β, RA, and IL-2 resulted in a striking enrichment of Foxp3 + T cells. These RA in vitro-induced regulatory T (RA-iTreg) cells did not secrete Th1-, Th2-, or Th17-related cytokines, showed a nonbiased homing potential, and expressed several cell surface molecules related to Treg-cell suppressive potential. Accordingly, these RA-iTreg cells suppressed T-cell proliferation and inhibited cytokine production by T cells in in vitro assays. Moreover, following adoptive transfer, RA-iTreg cells maintained Foxp3 expression and their suppressive capacity. Finally, RA-iTreg cells showed alloantigen-specific immunosuppressive capacity in a skin allograft model in immunodeficient mice. Altogether, these data indicate that functional and stable allogeneic-specific Treg cells may be generated using TGF-β, RA, and IL-2. Thus, RA-iTreg cells may have a potential use in the development of more effective cellular therapies in clinical transplantation.
Keywords: Allogeneic regulatory T cells r Homing r Retinoic acid r Tolerance r TransplantationAdditional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article at the publisher's web-site
IntroductionRegulatory T (Treg) cells are responsible for inducing and maintaining peripheral tolerance [1]. Treg cells are classified into two Correspondence: Dr. Daniela Sauma e-mail: dsauma@u.uchile.cl major subpopulations: thymus-derived Treg cells, which are generated in the thymus and circulate in the periphery as functional mature Treg cells [2][3][4], and peripherally derived Treg cells, which are generated in the periphery from CD4 + CD25 − naive * These authors contributed equally to this work.C 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.eji-journal.eu Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: 452-463 Immunomodulation
453T cells [5][6][7]. Treg cells target effector T cells and dendritic cells (DCs) by modulating their maturation and function through several mechanisms that suppress immune responses [8][9][10]; these include secretion of inhibitory cytokines (IL-10, IL-35, and TGF-β), granzyme/perforin-dependent mediated cytolysis, metabolic disruption [11][12][13][14][15], and the expression of LAG3 and CTLA4, which alter DC function [16,17]. In addition to the aforementioned mechanisms, Treg-cell suppressive capacity is dependent on Treg-cell migration and retention in the microenvironment where regulation is required. Differential expression patterns of chemokine receptors (such as CCR4, CCR5, and CCR9), integrins (α4β7), and selectins (CD62L) contribute to selective retention and trafficking of Treg cells and allow their appropriate localization during ...