Regulatory T cells: Master thieves of the immune system

Treg cells are the immune system's in-house combatants against pathological immune activation. Because they are vital to maintenance of peripheral tolerance, it is important to understand how they perform their functions. To this end, various mechanisms have been proposed for Treg-mediated immune inhibition. A major group of mechanisms picture Treg cells as skilled thieves stealing a plethora of molecules that would otherwise promote immune effector functions. This suggests that several million years of evolution have endowed Treg cells with efficient ways to deprive immune effectors of activating stimuli to prevent immunopathology for survival of the host. Although we are still long way from deciphering their complete set of tricks, this review will focus on the types of "crimes" committed by these master thieves in both secondary lymphoid organs and non-lymphoid tissue.