Jordan M S, Boesteanu A, Reed A J, Petrone A L, Holenbeck A E, Lerman M A, Naji A, Caton A J
The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Nat Immunol. 2001 Apr;2(4):301-6. doi: 10.1038/86302.
Despite accumulating evidence that regulatory T cells play a crucial role in preventing autoimmunity, the processes underlying their generation during immune repertoire formation are unknown. We show here that interactions with a single self-peptide can induce thymocytes that bear an autoreactive T cell receptor (TCR) to undergo selection to become CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells. Selection of CD4+CD25+ thymocytes appears to require a TCR with high affinity for a self peptide because thymocytes that bear TCRs with low affinity do not undergo selection into this pathway. Our findings indicate that specificity for self-peptides directs the selection of CD4+CD25+ regulatory thymocytes by a process that is distinct from positive selection and deletion.
尽管越来越多的证据表明调节性T细胞在预防自身免疫中起关键作用，但在免疫库形成过程中其产生的潜在机制尚不清楚。我们在此表明，与单个自身肽的相互作用可诱导携带自身反应性T细胞受体（TCR）的胸腺细胞进行选择，从而成为CD4 + CD25 +调节性T细胞。 CD4 + CD25 +胸腺细胞的选择似乎需要对自身肽具有高亲和力的TCR，因为携带低亲和力TCR的胸腺细胞不会被选择进入该途径。我们的研究结果表明，对自身肽的特异性通过与阳性选择和缺失不同的过程指导CD4 + CD25 +调节性胸腺细胞的选择。
