Cutting edge: receptors for C3a and C5a modulate stability of alloantigen-reactive induced regulatory T cells

W van der Touw, P Cravedi, W Kwan… - The Journal of …, 2013 - journals.aai.org
W van der Touw, P Cravedi, W Kwan, E Paz-Artal, M Merad, PS Heeger
The Journal of Immunology, 2013journals.aai.org
Abstract CD4+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) are critical regulators of immune
homeostasis and self-tolerance. Whereas thymic-derived or natural Treg stably express
Foxp3, adaptive or induced Treg (iTreg) generated from peripheral CD4 T cells are
susceptible to inflammation-induced reversion to pathogenic effector T cells. Building upon
our previous observations that T cell–expressed receptors for C3a (C3aR) and C5a (C5aR)
drive Th1 maturation, we tested the impact of C3aR/C5aR signaling on induction and …
Abstract
CD4+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) are critical regulators of immune homeostasis and self-tolerance. Whereas thymic-derived or natural Treg stably express Foxp3, adaptive or induced Treg (iTreg) generated from peripheral CD4 T cells are susceptible to inflammation-induced reversion to pathogenic effector T cells. Building upon our previous observations that T cell–expressed receptors for C3a (C3aR) and C5a (C5aR) drive Th1 maturation, we tested the impact of C3aR/C5aR signaling on induction and stability of alloreactive iTreg. We observed that genetic deficiency or pharmacological blockade of C3aR/C5aR signaling augments murine and human iTreg generation, stabilizes Foxp3 expression, resists iTreg conversion to IFN-γ/TNF-α–producing efffector T cells, and, as a consequence, limits the clinical expression of graft-versus-host disease. Taken together, the findings highlight the expansive role of complement as a crucial modulator of T cell alloimmunity and demonstrate proof-of-concept that targeting C3a/C3aR and C5a/C5aR interactions could facilitate iTreg-mediated tolerance to alloantigens in humans.
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