Institute for Infection Immunology, TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, Medical School Hanover-MHH-Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research-HZI, Hanover, Germany.
Microb Biotechnol. 2012 Mar;5(2):260-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-7915.2011.00299.x. Epub 2011 Sep 26.
The development of effective vaccines against life-threatening pathogens in human diseases represents one of the biggest challenges in biomedical science. Vaccines traditionally make use of the body's own immune armoury to combat pathogens. Yet, while our immune system is mostly effective in eliminating or controlling a diverse range of microorganisms, its responses are incomplete or somewhat limited in several other cases. How immune responses are restrained during certain infections has been a matter of debate for many years. The discovery of regulatory T cells (Tregs), an immune cell type that plays a central role in maintaining immune homeostasis and controlling appropriate immune responses, has shed light into many questions. Indeed, it has been proposed that while Tregs might be beneficial in preventing excessive tissue damage during infection, they might also favour pathogen persistence by restraining effector immune responses. In addition, Tregs are believed to limit immune responses upon vaccination. Different strategies have been pursued to circumvent Treg activity during immunization, but the lack of specific tools for their study has led sometimes to controversial conclusions. With the advent of novel mouse models that allow specific depletion and/or tracking of Treg populations in vivo, novel aspects of Treg biology during infection have been unravelled. In this review, we describe the new advances in understanding Treg biology during infection and evaluate Treg depletion as a novel adjuvant strategy for vaccination.
针对人类疾病中危及生命的病原体开发有效疫苗是生物医学科学面临的最大挑战之一。疫苗传统上利用身体自身的免疫系统来对抗病原体。然而，尽管我们的免疫系统在消除或控制多种微生物方面大多非常有效，但在其他一些情况下，其反应并不完整或有些受限。多年来，免疫反应在某些感染中受到限制的原因一直存在争议。调节性 T 细胞（Treg）的发现揭示了许多问题，Treg 是一种在维持免疫稳态和控制适当免疫反应方面发挥核心作用的免疫细胞类型。事实上，有人提出，虽然 Treg 可能有助于在感染过程中防止过度的组织损伤，但它们也可能通过抑制效应免疫反应而有利于病原体的持续存在。此外，Treg 被认为会限制疫苗接种后的免疫反应。已经采用了不同的策略来规避免疫过程中的 Treg 活性，但缺乏针对它们的特定研究工具有时会导致有争议的结论。随着允许在体内特异性耗竭和/或跟踪 Treg 群体的新型小鼠模型的出现，人们对感染期间 Treg 生物学的新方面有了更深入的了解。在这篇综述中，我们描述了在感染期间理解 Treg 生物学的新进展，并评估了 Treg 耗竭作为疫苗接种的一种新佐剂策略的潜力。
