Dendritic cells in the thymus contribute to T-regulatory cell induction.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Proietto AI
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2604962 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Peripheral mechanisms preventing autoimmunity and maintaining tolerance to commensal microbiota involve CD4(+) Foxp3(+) regulatory T (Treg) cells generated in the thymus or extrathymically by induction of naive CD4(+) Foxp3(-) T cells. Previous studies suggested that the T-cell receptor repertoires of thymic Treg cells and induced Treg cells are biased towards self and non-self antigens, respectively, but their relative contribution in controlling immunopathology, such as colitis and other untoward inflammatory responses triggered by different types of antigens, remains unresolved. The intestine, and especially the colon, is a particularly suitable organ to study this question, given the variety of self-, microbiota- and food-derived antigens to which Treg cells and other T-cell populations are exposed. Intestinal environments can enhance conversion to a regulatory lineage and favour tolerogenic presentation of antigens to naive CD4(+) T cells, suggesting that intestinal homeostasis depends on microbiota-specific induced Treg cells. Here, to identify the origin and antigen-specificity of intestinal Treg cells, we performed single-cell and high-throughput sequencing of the T-cell receptor repertoires of CD4(+) Foxp3(+) and CD4(+) Foxp3(-) T cells, and analysed their reactivity against specific commensal species. We show that thymus-derived Treg cells constitute most Treg cells in all lymphoid and intestinal organs, including the colon, where their repertoire is heavily influenced by the composition of the microbiota. Our results suggest that thymic Treg cells, and not induced Treg cells, dominantly mediate tolerance to antigens produced by intestinal commensals.
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Project description:Current organ transplantation therapy is life-saving but accompanied by well-recognized side effects due to post-transplantation systematic immunosuppressive treatment. Dendritic cells (DCs) are central instigators and regulators of transplantation immunity and are responsible for balancing allograft rejection and tolerance. They are derived from monocyte-macrophage DC progenitors originating in the bone marrow and are classified into different subsets based on their developmental, phenotypical, and functional criteria. Functionally, DCs instigate allograft immunity by presenting donor antigens to alloreactive T cells via direct, indirect, and semidirect recognition pathways and provide essential signaling for alloreactive T cell activation via costimulatory molecules and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Regulatory DCs (DCregs) are characterized by a relatively low expression of major histocompatibility complex, costimulatory molecules, and altered cytokine production and exert their regulatory function through T cell anergy, T cell deletion, and regulatory T cell induction. In rodent transplantation studies, DCreg-based therapy, by in situ targeting or infusion of ex vivo generated DCregs, exhibits promising potential as a natural, well-tolerated, organ-specific therapeutic strategy for promoting lasting organ-specific transplantation tolerance. Recent early-phase studies of DCregs have begun to examine the safety and efficacy of DCreg-induced allograft tolerance in living-donor renal or liver transplantations. The present review summarizes the basic characteristics, function, and translation of DCregs in transplantation tolerance induction.
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Project description:The severity and intensity of autoimmune disease in immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) patients and in scurfy mice emphasize the critical role played by thymus-derived regulatory T cells (tTregs) in maintaining peripheral immune tolerance. However, although tTregs are critical to prevent lethal autoimmunity and excessive inflammatory responses, their suppressive mechanism remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that tTregs selectively inhibit CD27/CD70-dependent Th1 priming, while leaving the IL-12-dependent pathway unaffected. Immunized mice depleted of tTregs showed an increased response of IFN-γ-secreting CD4(+) T cells that was strictly reliant on a functional CD27/CD70 pathway. In vitro studies revealed that tTregs downregulate CD70 from the plasma membrane of dendritic cells (DCs) in a CD27-dependent manner. CD70 downregulation required contact between Tregs and DCs and resulted in endocytosis of CD27 and CD70 into the DC. These findings reveal a novel mechanism by which tTregs can maintain tolerance or prevent excessive, proinflammatory Th1 responses.
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Project description:Natural Treg cells acquire their lineage-determining transcription factor Foxp3 during development in the thymus and are important in maintaining immunologic tolerance. Here, we analyzed the composition of the thymic Treg-cell pool using RAG2-GFP/FoxP3-RFP dual reporter mice and found that a population of long-lived GFP(-) Treg cells exists in the thymus. These long-lived Treg cells substantially increased with age, to a point where they represent >90% of the total thymic Treg-cell pool at 6 months of age. In contrast, long-lived conventional T cells remained at ∼ 15% of the total thymic pool at 6 months of age. Consistent with these studies, we noticed that host-derived Treg cells represented a large fraction (∼ 10%) of the total thymic Treg-cell pool in bone marrow chimeras, suggesting that long-lived Treg cells also reside in the thymus of these mice. The pool of long-lived Treg cells in the thymus was sustained by retention of Treg cells in the thymus and by recirculation of peripheral Treg cells back into the thymus. These long-lived thymic Treg cells suppressed T-cell proliferation to an equivalent extent to splenic Treg cells. Together, these data demonstrate that long-lived Treg cells accumulate in the thymus by both retention and recirculation.
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Project description:Dendritic cell (DC) apoptosis has been shown to play a role in maintaining a balance between tolerance and immunity. However, the mechanisms of how DC apoptosis affects the immune response are unclear. We have shown that in vitro culture of apoptotic DCs with immature DCs, results in their uptake by immature DCs, which subsequently turn into tolerogenic DCs, which then secrete TGF-beta1 and induce Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (T(regs)). In this study we looked at the effects of apoptotic DCs in vivo. Here we show that apoptotic DCs are taken up by viable DCs in vivo, which suppresses the ability of viable DCs to undergo maturation and subsequent migration to the lymph nodes in response to LPS. Additionally, delivery of apoptotic DCs to LPS inflamed lungs results in resolution of inflammation, which is mediated by the ability of apoptotic DCs to suppress response of viable DCs to LPS. Additionally, apoptotic DCs also induce TGF-beta1 secretion in the mediastinal lymph nodes, which results in expansion of Foxp3(+) T(regs). Most importantly, we show that delivery of apoptotic DCs followed by OVA in CFA to mice suppresses T cell response to OVA and instead induces de novo generation of OVA-specific T(regs). Furthermore, delivery of apoptotic DCs followed by OVA in CFA results in expansion of T(regs) in TCR transgenic (OT-II) mice. These findings demonstrate that apoptotic DCs are taken up by viable DCs in vivo, which promotes tolerance through suppression of DC maturation and induction of T(regs).
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Project description:Dendritic cells (DCs) shape T-cell response patterns and determine early, intermediate, and late outcomes of immune recognition events. They either facilitate immunostimulation or induce tolerance, possibly determined by initial DC activation signals, such as binding Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands. Here, we report that DC stimulation through the TLR3 ligand dsRNA [poly(I:C)] limits CD4 T-cell proliferation, curtailing adaptive immune responses. CD4+ T cells instructed by either lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or poly(I:C)-conditioned DCs promptly upregulated the activation marker CD69. Whereas LPS-pretreated DCs subsequently sustained T-cell clonal expansion, proliferation of CD4+ T cells exposed to poly(I:C)-pretreated DCs was markedly suppressed. This proliferative defect required DC-T cell contact, was independent of IFN-alpha, and was overcome by exogenous IL-2, indicating T-cell anergy. Coinciding with the downregulation, CD4+ T cells expressed the inhibitory receptor PD-1. Antibodies blocking the PD-1 ligand PD-L1 restored proliferation. dsRNA-stimulated DCs preferentially induced PD-L1, whereas poly(I:C) and LPS both upregulated the costimulatory molecule CD86 to a comparable extent. Poly(dA-dT), a ligand targeting the cytoplasmic RNA helicase pattern-recognition pathway, failed to selectively induce PD-L1 upregulation, assigning this effect to the TLR3 pathway. Poly(I:C)-conditioned DCs promoted accumulation of phosphorylated SHP-2, the intracellular phosphatase mediating PD-1 inhibitory effects. The ability of dsRNA to bias DC differentiation toward providing inhibitory signals to interacting CD4+ T cells may be instrumental in viral immune evasion. Conversely, TLR3 ligands may have therapeutic value in silencing pathogenic immune responses.
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Project description:Peripheral T-cell tolerance is thought to significantly contribute to the prevention of autoimmunity, and it has been shown that antigen-presenting steady-state dendritic cells efficiently induce peripheral tolerance. We previously showed that dendritic-cell-induced tolerance is a T-cell-intrinsic process that depends on coinhibitory molecules such as programmed death-1. Here we specifically analyze the involvement of FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells, which are known to be important for maintenance of self-tolerance. We show that antigen presentation by steady-state dendritic cells failed to induce peripheral tolerance in the absence of FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells but induced protective CD8(+) T-cell-mediated immunity instead. Regulatory T-cell-depleted mice had massively increased numbers of dendritic cells in lymph nodes. Dendritic cells isolated from mice without regulatory T cells had up-regulated costimulatory molecules and showed stronger T-cell stimulatory capacity ex vivo, suggesting that regulatory T cells contribute to peripheral tolerance by keeping the dendritic cells in an immature state. Using blocking antibodies, we demonstrate that CTLA-4 but not IL-10 is necessary for control of dendritic cells by regulatory T cells.
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Project description:Using hen egg-white lysozyme, the effect of blood proteins on CD4 thymic cells was examined. A small fraction of i.v. injected hen egg-white lysozyme rapidly entered the thymus into the medulla. There it was captured and presented by dendritic cells (DCs) to thymocytes from two TCR transgenic mice, one directed to a dominant peptide and a second to a poorly displayed peptide, both presented by MHC class II molecules I-A(k). Presentation by DC led to negative selection and induction of regulatory T cells, independent of epithelial cells. Presentation took place at very low levels, less than 100 peptide-MHC complexes per DC. Such low levels could induce negative selection, but even lower levels could induce regulatory T cells. The anatomy of the thymus-blood barrier, the highly efficient presentation by DC, together with the high sensitivity of thymic T cells to peptide-MHC complexes, results in blood protein Ags having a profound effect on thymic T cells.
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Project description:We have previously reported that the absence of inhibins results in impaired dendritic cell (DC) maturation and function, leading to decreased T cell activation and diminished delayed-type hypersensitivity responses. Here, we investigated the role of inhibins in peripheral regulatory T cell (Treg) induction in vitro and in vivo. Inhibin deficient (Inhα-/-) mice showed an increased percentage of peripherally induced Tregs in colonic lamina propria and mesenteric lymph nodes, compared to Inhα+/+ mice, which correlated with increased expression of PD-L1 in CD103+ and CD8α+ DCs. Lipopolysaccharide-stimulated bone marrow-derived and ex vivo spleen- and lymph node-purified CD11c+ Inhα-/- DCs induced higher Tregs in vitro. Moreover, in vivo anti-DEC205-ovalbumin (OVA) DC targeting of mice with adoptively transferred OVA-specific T cells showed enhanced induced peripheral Treg conversion in Inhα-/- mice. These data identify inhibins as key regulators of peripheral T cell tolerance.
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Project description:Intestinal regulatory T cells (Tregs) are fundamental in peripheral tolerance toward commensals and food-borne antigens. Accordingly, gut-draining mesenteric lymph nodes (mLNs) represent a site of efficient peripheral de novo Treg induction when compared to skin-draining peripheral LNs (pLNs), and we had recently shown that LN stromal cells substantially contribute to this process. Here, we aimed to unravel the underlying molecular mechanisms and generated immortalized fibroblastic reticular cell lines (iFRCs) from mLNs and pLNs, allowing unlimited investigation of this rare stromal cell subset. In line with our previous findings, mLN-iFRCs showed a higher Treg-inducing capacity when compared to pLN-iFRCs. RNA-seq analysis focusing on secreted molecules revealed a more tolerogenic phenotype of mLN- as compared to pLN-iFRCs. Remarkably, mLN-iFRCs produced substantial numbers of microvesicles (MVs) that carried elevated levels of TGF-? when compared to pLN-iFRC-derived MVs, and these novel players of intercellular communication were shown to be responsible for the tolerogenic properties of mLN-iFRCs. Thus, stromal cells originating from mLNs contribute to peripheral tolerance by fostering de novo Treg induction using TGF-?-carrying MVs. This finding provides novel insights into the subcellular/molecular mechanisms of de novo Treg induction and might serve as promising tool for future therapeutic applications to treat inflammatory disorders.
| S-EPMC5724490 | biostudies-literature