Deficiency of Mouse CD4^+CD25^+Foxp3^+ Regulatory T Cells in Xenogeneic Pig Thymus-Grafted Nude Mice Suffering from Autoimmune Diseases

作     者：Baojun Zhang Chenming Sun Yanyan Qu Aijun Zhang Jun Liu Lianjun Zhang Zeqing Niu Yong Zhao 

作者机构：Transplantation Biology Research Division State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China China-U.S. Research Center for Life Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences Datun Road Beijing 100101 China 

出 版 物：《Cellular & Molecular Immunology》 (中国免疫学杂志（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2008年第5卷第5期

页      面：325-332页

核心收录：

学科分类：1002[医学-临床医学] 100201[医学-内科学(含：心血管病、血液病、呼吸系病、消化系病、内分泌与代谢病、肾病、风湿病、传染病)] 10[医学] 

基　　金：grants from the National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (C03020504, Y.Z.) Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-SW-333, Y.Z.) the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars of State Education Ministry (2005-546, Y.Z.) 

主　　题：regulatory T cell Foxp3 autoimmune disease pig thymus transplantation 

摘      要：Xenogeneic thymus transplantation can efficiently induce specific immune tolerance to donor antigens in athymic recipients. However, many nude mice suffer from autoimmune diseases （AID） for over 10 weeks after xenogeneic thymus transplantation. CD4^＋CD25^＋Foxp3^＋ regulatory T （Treg） cells were recently determined to play a pivotal role in keeping immune tolerance in humans and mice. Thus, we investigated this subpopulation of Treg cells in the periphery of pig thymus-grafted nude mice suffering from AID. Our results showed that the expression of Foxp3, CTLA-4 and GITR on mouse CD4^＋CD25^＋ T cells and the ratio of CD4^＋CD25^＋Foxp3^＋ Treg cells to CD4^＋ T cells were significantly decreased in the periphery of pig thymus-grafted nude mice suffering from AID, compared with healthy pig or mouse thymus-grafted nude mice. Furthermore, mouse CD4^＋CD25^＋ T cells in pig thymus-grafted nude mice suffering from AID showed more severe deficiency in immunosuppressive function compared with the counterpart in xenogeneic pig or syngeneic thymus-grafted nude mice without AID. Thus, the decreased frequency, altered phenotype and functional deficiency of mouse CD4^＋CD25^＋ Treg cells in pig thymus-grafted nude mice may contribute to the development of AID in this model.