| First Author | Simonetta F | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | e36596 |
| PubMed ID | 22586481 | Mgi Jnum | J:187252 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5435982 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0036596 |
| Citation | Simonetta F, et al. (2012) Interleukin-7 influences FOXP3+CD4+ regulatory T cells peripheral homeostasis. PLoS One 7(5):e36596 |
| abstractText | Mechanisms governing peripheral CD4+ FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) survival and homeostasis are multiple suggesting tight and complex regulation of regulatory T cells homeostasis. Some specific factors, such as TGF-beta, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and B7 costimulatory molecules have been identified as essentials for maintenance of the peripheral Treg compartment. Conversely, Treg dependency upon classical T cell homeostatic factors such as IL-7 is still unclear. In this work, we formally investigated the role of IL-7 in Treg homeostasis in vivo in murine models. We demonstrated that IL-7 availability regulated the size of peripheral Treg cell pool and thus paralleled the impact of IL-7 on conventional T cell pool. Moreover, we showed that IL-7 administration increased Treg cell numbers by inducing thymic-independent Treg peripheral expansion. Importantly the impact of IL-7 on Treg expansion was detected whether conventional T cells were present or absent as IL-7 directly participates to the peripheral expansion of Treg after adoptive transfer into lymphopenic hosts. Our results definitively identify IL-7 as a central factor contributing to Treg peripheral homeostasis, thus reassembling Treg to other T cell subsets in respect of their need for IL-7 for their peripheral maintenance. |
