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Presence of Functional Mouse Regulatory CD4+CD25+T Cells in Xenogeneic Neonatal Porcine Thymus‐Grafted Athymic Mice
Author(s) -
Sun Z.,
Zhao L.,
Wang H.,
Sun L.,
Yi H.,
Zhao Y.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2006.01549.x
Subject(s) - il 2 receptor , foxp3 , xenotransplantation , immunology , transplantation , immune tolerance , immune system , antigen , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , t cell
Xenotransplantation with porcine thymus is emerging as a possible means to reconstitute host cellular immunity and to induce immune tolerance in rodents and large animals. However, the presence of regulatory T cells (Treg cells) in this model needs to be determined. We herein demonstrated that efficient repopulation of mouse CD4+CD25+Treg cells was achieved in Balb/c nude mice by grafting neonatal porcine thymic tissue (NP THY). Mouse CD4+CD25+T cells expressed normal levels of Foxp3 in NP THY‐grafted nude mice. Furthermore, these CD4+CD25+Treg cells showed significant inhibitory effects on the cell proliferation or interleukin‐2 products of syngeneic T cells to alloantigens, Con A or a peptide antigen, although the potent immunosuppressive function might be lower than CD4+CD25+Treg cells in Balb/c mice. CD4+CD25+T cells in NP THY‐grafted nude mice showed significantly stronger inhibition on the response to donor porcine antigens of CD4+CD25−T cells than CD4+CD25+Treg cells in Balb/c mice. Both CD4+CD25+Treg cells in NP THY‐grafted nude and Balb/c mice prevented the development of autoimmune disease mediated by syngeneic CD4+CD25−T cells in a similar efficient way in the secondary recipients. These findings provide evidence for the potential involvement of CD4+CD25+Treg cells in keeping self‐tolerance and transplant tolerance in this xeno‐thymus transplantation model.