Regulatory T cells: the cunning fox and its clinical application

Abstract

So profound is the potential for regulatory T cells (Tregs) to control unwanted immune responses that in 2008 an entire conference was dedicated to them. The underlying concept of this conference, "China Tregs 2008," was that unraveling the cellular biology of Tregs will lead to important advances for therapies in virtually all human disease processes and in transplantation. The master-switch of immune regulation is the forkhead transcription factor Foxp3; in mice, Foxp3 is a sine qua non for regulatory activity. At "China Tregs 2008," the cell signaling events leading to the expression of Foxp3 and those events downstream were explored together with presentations on how the latest knowledge of the biology of Tregs is being translated in the clinic.