Open AccessRegulation of T-Cell Immunity by T-Cell Immunoglobulin and Mucin Domain Proteins
Author(s) -
Nicolas Degauque,
Christophe Mariat,
James J. Kenny,
Alberto SánchezFueyo,
Sophoclis P. Alexopoulos,
Vijay K. Kuchroo,
X. X. Zheng,
Terry B. Strom
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.45
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1534-6080
pISSN - 0041-1337
DOI - 10.1097/01.tp.0000269111.87719.d8
Subject(s) - immune system , biology , t cell , effector , microbiology and biotechnology , mucin , antibody , immunology , immunoglobulin domain , function (biology) , acquired immune system , t helper cell , immunity , biochemistry
The ability of T helper (TH) precursor cells to differentiate into T effector populations confers the adaptive immune system with a means to protect the host from microbes and react to "foreign" antigenic tissues. T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain (TIM) proteins have recently been shown to be novel and critical regulators of T cell subset-driven dependent immune responsiveness. A dichotomy is emerging as to how Tim-3- and Tim-2- related signals respectively impact TH1 and TH2 responses. By comparison, the influence of the Tim-1 pathway seems to be broader and is probably not restricted to a specific type of T helper response. Beyond the mere control of the TH1/TH2 balance, Tim proteins are likely to target other regulatory components of the T cell response. Likewise, it is tempting to speculate that Tim proteins might also modulate the function of other T helper cell subsets such as TH3, TR1 and TH17 cells, among others.