Pronounced phenotype in activated regulatory T cells during a chronic helminth infection

Although several markers have been associated with the characterization of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and their function, no studies have investigated the dynamics of their phenotype during infection. Since the necessity of Tregs to control immunopathology has been demonstrated, we used the chronic helminth infection model Schistosoma mansoni to address the impact on the Treg gene repertoire. Before gene expression profiling, we first studied the localization and Ag-specific suppressive nature of classically defined Tregs during infection. The presence of Foxp3+ cells was predominantly found in the periphery of granulomas and isolated CD4+CD25(hi)Foxp3+ Tregs from infected mice and blocked IFN-gamma and IL-10 cytokine secretion from infected CD4+CD25- effector T cells. Furthermore, the gene expression patterns of Tregs and effector T cells showed that 474 genes were significantly regulated during schistosomiasis. After k-means clustering, we identified genes exclusively regulated in all four populations, including Foxp3, CD103, GITR, OX40, and CTLA-4--classic Treg markers. During infection, however, several nonclassical genes were upregulated solely within the Treg population, such as Slpi, Gzmb, Mt1, Fabp5, Nfil3, Socs2, Gpr177, and Klrg1. Using RT-PCR, we confirmed aspects of the microarray data and also showed that the expression profile of Tregs from S. mansoni-infected mice is simultaneously unique and comparable with Tregs derived from other infections.