Regulatory T cells and pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a disease of high lethality arising from numerous causes. For a significant subset of PH patients, autoimmune biomarkers or frank autoimmune disease are simultaneously present, but the extent to which lung inflammation contributes to PH is unknown. However, emerging experimental and clinical evidence suggests that immune dysregulation may lead to the propagation of vascular injury and PH. A recent preclinical study demonstrated that regulatory T cells are important mediators normally enlisted to control inflammation and that, if absent or dysfunctional, may predispose to the development of PH.