Immunologic tolerance maintained by CD25⁺ CD4⁺ regulatory T cells: their common role in controlling autoimmunity, tumor immunity, and transplantation tolerance

Abstract

Summary: There is accumulating evidence that T‐cell‐mediated dominant control of self‐reactive T‐cells contributes to the maintenance of immunologic self‐tolerance and its alteration can cause autoimmune disease. Efforts to delineate such a regulatory T‐cell population have revealed that CD25⁺ cells in the CD4⁺ population in normal naive animals bear the ability to prevent autoimmune disease in vivo and, upon antigenic stimulation, suppress the activation/proliferation of other T cells in vitro. The CD25⁺ CD4⁺ regulatory T cells, which are naturally anergic and suppressive, appear to be produced by the normal thymus as a functionally distinct subpopulation of T cells. They play critical roles not only in preventing autoimmunity but also in controlling tumor immunity and transplantation tolerance.