Takahashi Takeshi, Sakaguchi Shimon
Department of Experimental Pathology, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
Int Rev Cytol. 2003;225:1-32. doi: 10.1016/s0074-7696(05)25001-5.
Accumulating evidence indicates that T cell-mediated dominant control of self-reactive T cells contributes to the maintenance of immunologic self-tolerance and its alternation may lead to development of autoimmune disease. Efforts to delineate such a regulatory T cell population have revealed that CD25+ cells within the CD4+ population in normal naive animals including humans possess the regulatory activity. The CD25+CD4+ regulatory T cells are produced by the normal thymus as a functionally distinct subpopulation of T cells. They play critical roles not only in preventing autoimmunity but also in controlling various immune reactions.
越来越多的证据表明，T细胞介导的对自身反应性T细胞的显性控制有助于维持免疫自身耐受性，其改变可能导致自身免疫性疾病的发生。为了描绘这样一个调节性T细胞群体所做的努力表明，在包括人类在内的正常幼稚动物的CD4+群体中的CD25+细胞具有调节活性。CD25+CD4+调节性T细胞由正常胸腺产生，是功能上独特的T细胞亚群。它们不仅在预防自身免疫方面发挥关键作用，而且在控制各种免疫反应中也发挥关键作用。
