(Journal Article): Novel Insights in the Regulation of the Immune System: A Report on the FASEB Summer Research Conference on Autoimmunity, 2003
 
Gronski MA (University Health Network, Ontario Cancer Institute, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Canada M5G 2M9, m.gronski(at)utoronto.ca )
 
IN: Rev Diabetic Stud 2004; 1(1):47-50
Impact Factor(s) of Rev Diabetic Stud: 0.125 (2006)

Fulltext:    HTML  PDF

ABSTRACT: The bi-annual FASEB autoimmunity conference organized last year by Betty Diamond and Stephen Miller brought together some 150 delegates studying various aspects of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diabetes. The conference provided numerous insights into the latest research on autoimmunity and answered many basic research type questions that are important for understanding the complex nature of these diseases. Because some time has elapsed since the conference, data from a number of talks has already been published [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Thus, I will present an overview of some of the most interesting and at the same time, still unpublished data on T cells presented at the conference. The balance between tolerance and immunity is controlled through a variety of mechanisms such as the presence or absence of co-stimulation or negative regulation of a T cell response. CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells were also a focus of interest. Talks that I will discuss focused on the role of molecules such as GITR, Foxp3 and B7 for the development and function of regulatory T cells and the importance of these molecules in the prevention of autoimmunity. As well, a novel form of CTLA-4 and the use of 4-1BB co-stimulation blockade for the control of autoimmunity will be discussed.

REFERENCES:

1. Anandasabapathy N, Ford GS, Bloom D, Holness C, Paragas V, Seroogy C, Skrenta H, Hollenhorst M, Fathman CG, Soares L. GRAIL: an E3 ubiquitin ligase that inhibits cytokine gene transcription is expressed in anergic CD4+ T cells. Immunity 2003. 18:535-547.
2. Soares L, Seroogy C, Skrenta H, Anandasabapathy N, Lovelace P, Chung CD, Engleman E, Fathman CG. Two isoforms of otubain 1 regulate T cell anergy via GRAIL. Nat Immunol 2004. 5:45-54.
3. Lohr J, Knoechel B, Jiang S, Sharpe AH, Abbas AK. The inhibitory function of B7 costimulators in T cell responses to foreign and self-antigens. Nat Immunol 2003. 4:664-669.
4. Chen C, Lee WH, Yun P, Snow P, Liu CP. Induction of autoantigen-specific Th2 and Tr1 regulatory T cells and modulation of autoimmune diabetes. J Immunol 2003. 171:733-744.
5. Liston A, Lesage S, Wilson J, Peltonen L, Goodnow CC. Aire regulates negative selection of organ-specific T cells. Nat Immunol 2003. 4:350-354.
6. Reinhardt RL, Bullard DC, Weaver CT, Jenkins MK. Preferential accumulation of antigen-specific effector CD4 T cells at an antigen injection site involves CD62E-dependent migration but not local proliferation. J Exp Med 2003. 197:751-762.
7. Itano AA, McSorley SJ, Reinhardt RL, Ehst BD, Ingulli E, Rudensky AY, Jenkins MK. Distinct dendritic cell populations sequentially present antigen to CD4 T cells and stimulate different aspects of cell-mediated immunity. Immunity 2003. 19:47-57.
8. Sun Y, Chen HM, Subudhi SK, Chen J, Koka R, Chen L, Fu YX. Costimulatory molecule-targeted antibody therapy of a spontaneous autoimmune disease. Nat Med 2002. 8:1405-1413.
9. Olson JK, Eagar TN, Miller SD. Functional activation of myelin-specific T cells by virus-induced molecular mimicry. J Immunol 2002. 169:2719-2726.
10. Olson JK, Croxford JL, Calenoff MA, Dal Canto MC, Miller SD. A virus-induced molecular mimicry model of multiple sclerosis. J Clin Invest 2001. 108:311-318.
11. Christen U, Benke D, Wolfe T, Rodrigo E, Rhode A, Hughes AC, Oldstone MB, von Herrath MG. Cure of prediabetic mice by viral infections involves lymphocyte recruitment along an IP-10 gradient. J Clin Invest 2004. 113:74-84.
12. McHugh RS, Shevach EM. Cutting edge: depletion of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells is necessary, but not sufficient, for induction of organ-specific autoimmune disease. J Immunol 2002. 168:5979-5983.
13. Hori S, Nomura T, Sakaguchi S. Control of regulatory T cell development by the transcription factor Foxp3. Science 2003. 299:1057-1061.