- 作者：Suzana Radulovic ; Mikila R. Jacobson ; Stephen R. Durham ; Kayhan T. Nouri-Aria
- 关键词：Foxp3 ; CD4+CD25+ Treg cells ; IL-10 ; grass pollen immunotherapy ; hay fever/allergic rhinitis
- 刊名：Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
- 出版年：2008
- 出版时间：June 2008
- 年：2008
- 卷：121
- 期：6
- 页码：1467-1472.e1
- 全文大小：652 K
Background
Regulatory T (Treg) cells play an important role in controlling allergic inflammation. The transcription factor Foxp3 regulates the development and function of natural and adaptive CD4+CD25+ Treg cells.Objectives
We sought to examine the effect of grass pollen injection immunotherapy on the numbers of Foxp3+CD4+ and Foxp3+CD25+ T cells in and out of season and their expression of IL-10 in the nasal mucosa of patients with hay fever.
Methods
Nasal biopsy specimens were obtained from untreated patients with hay fever, participants with grass pollen allergy who had received 2 years of immunotherapy, and healthy control subjects. Dual-immunofluorescence microscopy was used to enumerate and colocalize Foxp3 expression to CD4+ and CD25+ T cells in the nasal mucosa. Triple staining was performed to colocalize Foxp3+ cells to CD3+CD25+ and CD3+ IL-10–expressing cells.
Results
At peak season, numbers of Foxp3+CD25+ (P = .02) and Foxp3+CD4+ (P = .03) cells were significantly increased in the nasal mucosa of immunotherapy-treated patients compared with numbers before treatment. Foxp3+CD25+ (P = .03) and Foxp3+CD4+ (P = .04) cells were also greater in immunotherapy-treated patients out of season compared with those in untreated patients with hay fever. Within the immunotherapy-treated group, 20 % of CD3+CD25+ cells expressed Foxp3, and 18 % of Foxp3+CD3+ cells were IL-10 positive.
Conclusion
The presence of local Foxp3+CD25+CD3+ cells in the nasal mucosa, their increased numbers after immunotherapy, and their association with clinical efficacy and suppression of seasonal allergic inflammation support a putative role for Treg cells in the induction of allergen-specific tolerance in human subjects.