Regulatory T cells in γ irradiation-induced immune suppression.

Autor: Hugh I McFarland, Montserrat Puig, Lucja T Grajkowska, Kazuhide Tsuji, Jay P Lee, Karen P Mason, Daniela Verthelyi, Amy S Rosenberg
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 6, p e39092 (2012)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039092
Popis: Sublethal total body γ irradiation (TBI) of mammals causes generalized immunosuppression, in part by induction of lymphocyte apoptosis. Here, we provide evidence that a part of this immune suppression may be attributable to dysfunction of immune regulation. We investigated the effects of sublethal TBI on T cell memory responses to gain insight into the potential for loss of vaccine immunity following such exposure. We show that in mice primed to an MHC class I alloantigen, the accelerated graft rejection T memory response is specifically lost several weeks following TBI, whereas identically treated naïve mice at the same time point had completely recovered normal rejection kinetics. Depletion in vivo with anti-CD4 or anti-CD25 showed that the mechanism involved cells consistent with a regulatory T cell (T reg) phenotype. The loss of the T memory response following TBI was associated with a relative increase of CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+ expressing T regs, as compared to the CD8+ T effector cells requisite for skin graft rejection. The radiation-induced T memory suppression was shown to be antigen-specific in that a third party ipsilateral graft rejected with normal kinetics. Remarkably, following the eventual rejection of the first MHC class I disparate skin graft, the suppressive environment was maintained, with markedly prolonged survival of a second identical allograft. These findings have potential importance as regards the immunologic status of T memory responses in victims of ionizing radiation exposure and apoptosis-inducing therapies.
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