Inducible CD4+LAP+ Foxp3 negative Regulatory T cells Suppress Allergic Inflammation

摘要

Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) play a critical role in the maintenance of airway tolerance. We report here that inhaled soluble antigen induces not only adaptive Foxp3+ Treg but also a regulatory population of CD4+ T cells in the lungs and lung-draining lymph nodes that express latency-associated peptide (LAP) on their cell surface but do not express Foxp3. Blocking the cytokines IL-10 or transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) prevented the generation of the LAP+ Treg and Foxp3+ Treg cells in vivo, and the LAP+ Treg could also be generated concomitantly with Foxp3+ Treg in vitro by culturing naïve CD4+ T cells with antigen and exogenous TGF-β. The LAP+ Treg cells strongly suppressed naïve CD4+ T cell proliferation, and transfer of sorted OVA-specific LAP+ Treg cells in vivo inhibited allergic eosinophilia and Th2 cytokine expression in the lung, either when present at the time of Th2 sensitization or when injected after Th2 cells were formed. Furthermore, inflammatory innate stimuli from house dust mite (HDM) extract, nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing 2 (Nod2) ligand, and lipopolysacchride (LPS), that are sufficient for blocking airway tolerance, strongly decreased the induction of LAP+ Treg cells. Taken together, we conclude that inducible antigen-specific LAP+ Treg cells can suppress asthmatic lung inflammation and constitute a mediator of airway tolerance together with Foxp3+ Treg cells.