Genetic tools for analysis of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells in vivo

The discovery of Foxp3 as a reliable marker for murine regulatory T cells has led to an explosion in the development of genetic tools for investigating the biology of regulatory T cells. More than 25 Foxp3-based mouse strains have been published with a variety of characteristics. The effects of Foxp3 expression can be analyzed using null, hypomorphic, conditional, altered control, and over-expression strains. Reporter strains are available to efficiently isolate Foxp3+ cells, with various reporter designs in terms of construct (fusion, replacement, and bicistronic positioning), and reporter system (GFP, YFP, RFP, Luciferase, Thy1.1). Multifunction strain fusion, replacement, and bicistronic positionings add functional proteins under the control of the Foxp3 promoter allowing induced apoptosis or lineage-specific Cre recombinase activity. In this chapter, we discuss the uses of the cornucopia of genetic tools, in isolation and in combination, for research on Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells.