Open AccessHepatic Stellate Cells Preferentially Expand Allogeneic CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Regulatory T Cells in an IL-2-Dependent Manner
Author(s) -
Guoping Jiang,
Horng Ren Yang,
Lianfu Wang,
Gary Wildey,
John J. Fung,
Qian Shen,
Lina Lü
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
transplantation
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.45
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1534-6080
pISSN - 0041-1337
DOI - 10.1097/tp.0b013e31818bfd13
Subject(s) - foxp3 , il 2 receptor , biology , regulatory t cell , hepatic stellate cell , immunology , immune system , immune tolerance , t cell , cancer research , microbiology and biotechnology , endocrinology
Organ transplantation has been successfully practiced for decades, but the outcome of cell transplantation remains disappointing. This is the case in animal models; liver allografts in mice are spontaneously accepted without requirement of immunosuppression, whereas hepatocyte transplants in the same combination are acutely rejected, apparently resulting from immune attacks because syngeneic hepatocyte transplants survive indefinitely. This suggests that liver nonparenchymal cells play an important role in protecting parenchymal cell from rejection. We have shown that hepatic stellate cells (HpSC), well known to participate in liver repairing and fibrosis, mediate potent immunomodulatory functions through induction of activated T-cell death.