Peripheral regulatory T lymphocytes recirculating to the thymus suppress the development of their precursors

Nicolas Thiault1, Julie Darrigues1, Véronique Adoue1

  • 11] Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1043, Toulouse, France. [2] Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique U5282, Toulouse, France. [3] Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, Centre de Physiopathologie de Toulouse Purpan, Toulouse, France.

Nature Immunology
|May 5, 2015
PubMed

Most T lymphocytes, including regulatory T cells (Treg cells), differentiate in the thymus. The age-dependent involution of this organ leads to decreasing production of T cells. Here we found that the output of new Treg cells from the thymus decreased substantially more than that of conventional T cells. Peripheral mouse and human Treg cells recirculated back to the thymus, where they constituted a large proportion of the pool of Treg cells and displayed an activated and differentiated phenotype. In the thymus, the recirculating cells exerted their regulatory function by inhibiting interleukin 2 (IL-2)-dependent de novo differentiation of Treg cells. Thus, Treg cell development is controlled by a negative feedback loop in which mature progeny cells return to the thymus and restrain development of precursors of Treg cells.

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