Transfer of regulatory properties from tolerogenic to proinflammatory dendritic cells via induced autoreactive regulatory T cells

FS Kleijwegt, S Laban, G Duinkerken… - The Journal of …, 2011 - journals.aai.org
FS Kleijwegt, S Laban, G Duinkerken, AM Joosten, BPC Koeleman, T Nikolic, BO Roep
The Journal of Immunology, 2011journals.aai.org
Infectious tolerance is a term generally assigned to the process through which regulatory T
cells (Tregs) transfer immunoregulatory properties to other T cells. In this study, we
demonstrated that a similar process applies to human dendritic cells (DCs), albeit through a
different mechanism. We induced and cloned proinsulin-specific Tregs using tolerogenic
DCs and investigated mechanisms by which induced Ag-specific regulatory T cells (iaTregs)
endorse the suppressive effects. iaTregs expressed FOXP3, programmed death-1, and …
Abstract
Infectious tolerance is a term generally assigned to the process through which regulatory T cells (Tregs) transfer immunoregulatory properties to other T cells. In this study, we demonstrated that a similar process applies to human dendritic cells (DCs), albeit through a different mechanism. We induced and cloned proinsulin-specific Tregs using tolerogenic DCs and investigated mechanisms by which induced Ag-specific regulatory T cells (iaTregs) endorse the suppressive effects. iaTregs expressed FOXP3, programmed death-1, and membrane-bound TGF-β and upregulated IL-10 and CTLA-4 after stimulation with the cognate Ag. The iaTregs suppressed effector T cells only when both encountered the cognate Ags on the same APCs (linked suppression). This occurred independently of IL-10, TGF-β, programmed death-1, or CTLA-4. Instead, iaTregs used a granzyme B-mediated mechanism to kill B cells and monocytes, whereas proinflammatory DCs that resisted being killed were induced to upregulate the inhibitory receptors B7 (family) homolog 3 and ICOS ligand. These re-educated mature monocyte-derived dendritic cells (mDCs) suppressed effector T cells and induced IL-10–producing cells from the naive T cell pool. Our data indicated that human tolerogenic DCs confer infectious tolerance by inducing Ag-specific Tregs, which, in turn, re-educate proinflammatory mature DCs into DCs with regulatory properties.
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