| First Author | Laurence A | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 209-22 |
| PubMed ID | 22921119 | Mgi Jnum | J:187365 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5436324 | Doi | 10.1016/j.immuni.2012.05.027 |
| Citation | Laurence A, et al. (2012) STAT3 Transcription Factor Promotes Instability of nTreg Cells and Limits Generation of iTreg Cells during Acute Murine Graft-versus-Host Disease. Immunity 37(2):209-22 |
| abstractText | Acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a major cause of mortality in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT), for which administration of FoxP3(+) regulatory T (Treg) cells has been proposed as a therapy. However, the phenotypic stability of Treg cells is controversial, and STAT3-dependent cytokines can inhibit FoxP3 expression. We assessed whether the elimination of STAT3 in T cells could limit the severity of GvHD. We found STAT3 limited FoxP3(+) Treg cell numbers following allogeneic BMT by two pathways: instability of natural Treg (nTreg) cells and inhibition of induced Treg (iTreg) cell polarization from naive CD4(+) T cells. Deletion of STAT3 within only the nTreg cell population was not sufficient to protect against lethal GvHD. In contrast, transfer of STAT3-deficient naive CD4(+) T cells increased FoxP3(+) Treg cells post-BMT and prevented lethality, suggesting that the consequence of STAT3 signaling may be greater for iTreg rather than nTreg cells during GvHD. |
