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In Vitro and In Vivo Assessment of T, B and Myeloid Cells Suppressive Activity and Humoral Responses from Transplant Recipients
Published on: August 12, 2017
T-regulatory cells-what relationship with immunosuppressive agents?
1Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Vienna General Hospital, Vienna, Austria. Thomas.Wekerle@meduniwien.ac.at
Transplantation Proceedings
|December 23, 2008
Summary
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are crucial for immune tolerance. While some drugs negatively impact Tregs, rapamycin shows promise for expanding Tregs for potential therapeutic use in transplantation, though clinical tolerance induction remains unproven.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Transplantation immunology
Background:
- Self-tolerance is maintained by regulatory T cells (Tregs) that suppress effector cells.
- Understanding Treg subpopulations and their manipulation is key for advancing transplantation science.
- The impact of immunosuppressive drugs on Tregs and their therapeutic potential for graft acceptance are critical research areas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of immunosuppressive drugs on regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the context of organ transplantation.
- To explore the therapeutic potential of Tregs for inducing graft acceptance and tolerance.
- To assess strategies for expanding Tregs for clinical applications.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of existing evidence on immunosuppressive drugs and their effects on Tregs.
- Review of studies investigating Treg expansion strategies, particularly using rapamycin.
- Examination of data regarding the therapeutic efficacy of Tregs in inducing transplantation tolerance.
Main Results:
- Immunosuppressive drugs differentially affect Tregs; rapamycin shows a favorable impact, while calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) have negative effects.
- Rapamycin promotes the in vitro expansion of both murine and human Tregs, potentially enabling clinically relevant quantities.
- Current data do not demonstrate that therapeutic Treg administration induces transplantation tolerance across full MHC barriers in immunocompetent hosts.
Conclusions:
- Immunosuppressive drugs significantly impact Tregs, with rapamycin offering a potential advantage for Treg expansion.
- Therapeutic administration of Tregs is a promising strategy for inducing graft acceptance, but further research is needed.
- Clinical translation of Treg-based therapies for transplantation tolerance requires more robust evidence, especially across major histocompatibility complex barriers.
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