| First Author | León B | Year | 2014 |
| Journal | Nat Commun | Volume | 5 |
| Pages | 3495 | PubMed ID | 24633065 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:210317 | Mgi Id | MGI:5570487 |
| Doi | 10.1038/ncomms4495 | Citation | Leon B, et al. (2014) FoxP3+ regulatory T cells promote influenza-specific Tfh responses by controlling IL-2 availability. Nat Commun 5:3495 |
| abstractText | Here, we test the role of FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) in controlling T follicular helper (Tfh) and germinal centre (GC) B-cell responses to influenza. In contrast to the idea that Tregs suppress T-cell responses, we find that Treg depletion severely reduces the Tfh cell response to influenza virus. Furthermore, Treg depletion prevents the accumulation of influenza-specific GCs. These effects are not due to alterations in TGFbeta availability or a precursor-progeny relationship between Tregs and Tfh cells, but are instead mediated by increased availability of IL-2, which suppresses the differentiation of Tfh cells and as a consequence, compromises the GC B response. Thus, Tregs promote influenza-specific GC responses by preventing excessive IL-2 signalling, which suppresses Tfh cell differentiation. |