[HTML][HTML] CD4+ Natural Regulatory T Cells Prevent Experimental Cerebral Malaria via CTLA-4 When Expanded In Vivo

A Haque, SE Best, FH Amante, S Mustafah… - PLoS …, 2010 - journals.plos.org
A Haque, SE Best, FH Amante, S Mustafah, L Desbarrieres, F de Labastida, T Sparwasser
PLoS pathogens, 2010journals.plos.org
Studies in malaria patients indicate that higher frequencies of peripheral blood CD4+
Foxp3+ CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells correlate with increased blood parasitemia. This
observation implies that Treg cells impair pathogen clearance and thus may be detrimental
to the host during infection. In C57BL/6 mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA,
depletion of Foxp3+ cells did not improve parasite control or disease outcome. In contrast,
elevating frequencies of natural Treg cells in vivo using IL-2/anti-IL-2 complexes resulted in …
Studies in malaria patients indicate that higher frequencies of peripheral blood CD4+ Foxp3+ CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells correlate with increased blood parasitemia. This observation implies that Treg cells impair pathogen clearance and thus may be detrimental to the host during infection. In C57BL/6 mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA, depletion of Foxp3+ cells did not improve parasite control or disease outcome. In contrast, elevating frequencies of natural Treg cells in vivo using IL-2/anti-IL-2 complexes resulted in complete protection against severe disease. This protection was entirely dependent upon Foxp3+ cells and resulted in lower parasite biomass, impaired antigen-specific CD4+ T and CD8+ T cell responses that would normally promote parasite tissue sequestration in this model, and reduced recruitment of conventional T cells to the brain. Furthermore, Foxp3+ cell-mediated protection was dependent upon CTLA-4 but not IL-10. These data show that T cell-mediated parasite tissue sequestration can be reduced by regulatory T cells in a mouse model of malaria, thereby limiting malaria-induced immune pathology.
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