Department of Clinical Immunology, Third Affiliated Hospital at the Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China; Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Cell Rep. 2019 Feb 12;26(7):1869-1879.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.01.066.
High-salt diets inhibit the suppressive function of thymus-derived natural regulatory T cells (tTreg). Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-induced ex vivo regulatory T cells (iTreg) comprise another Treg subset that exhibits similarities and differences with tTreg. Here, we demonstrate that iTregs are completely stable and fully functional under high salt conditions. High salt does not influence the development, differentiation, and functional activities of iTreg but affects Foxp3 stability and function of tTreg in vitro and in vivo. In addition, high salt does not significantly change the transcription profiles of the iTreg signature or pro-inflammatory genes. Therefore, we conclude that iTreg, unlike tTreg, are stable and functional in the presence of high salt. Our findings provide additional evidence that iTreg may have different biological features from tTreg and suggest a greater potential for clinical utility in patients with autoimmune diseases, in which the complicated role of environmental factors, including diet, must be considered.
高盐饮食抑制胸腺来源的天然调节性 T 细胞（tTreg）的抑制功能。转化生长因子β（TGF-β）诱导的体外调节性 T 细胞（iTreg）构成了另一个 Treg 亚群，其与 tTreg 具有相似性和差异性。在这里，我们证明 iTreg 在高盐条件下完全稳定且功能完全。高盐不会影响 iTreg 的发育、分化和功能活性，但会影响 tTreg 在体外和体内的 Foxp3 稳定性和功能。此外，高盐不会显著改变 iTreg 特征或促炎基因的转录谱。因此，我们得出结论，与 tTreg 不同，iTreg 在高盐存在下稳定且功能正常。我们的研究结果提供了额外的证据表明，iTreg 可能具有不同于 tTreg 的生物学特征，并提示其在自身免疫性疾病患者中的临床应用潜力更大，在这些患者中，必须考虑包括饮食在内的复杂环境因素的作用。
