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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Mouse Naïve CD4+ T Cell Isolation and In vitro Differentiation into T Cell Subsets
Published on: April 16, 2015
Transforming growth factor-beta-induced regulatory T cells referee inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
1Cellular Immunology Section, Oral Infection and Immunity Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. smwahl@dir.nidcr.nih.gov
Abstract:
Naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells mediate immune suppression to limit immunopathogenesis associated with chronic inflammation, persistent infections and autoimmune diseases. Their mode of suppression is contact-dependent, antigen-nonspecific and involves a nonredundant contribution from the cytokine transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta. Not only can TGF-beta mediate cell-cell suppression between the regulatory T cells and CD4+CD25- or CD8+ T cells, but new evidence also reveals its role in the conversion of CD4+CD25- T cells, together with TCR antigen stimulation, into the regulatory phenotype. Elemental to this conversion process is induction of expression of the forkhead transcription factor, Foxp3. This context-dependent coercion of naive CD4+ T cells into a powerful subset of regulatory cells provides a window into potential manipulation of these cells to orchestrate therapeutic intervention in diseases characterized by inadequate suppression, as well as a promising means of controlling pathologic situations in which excessive suppression dominates.
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