Abstract
Abstract We show that the lymphoid hyperplasia observed in IL-2Rα- and IL-2-deficient mice is due to the lack of a population of regulatory cells essential for CD4 T cell homeostasis. In chimeras reconstituted with bone marrow cells from IL-2Rα-deficient donors, restitution of a population of CD25+CD4+ T cells prevents the chaotic accumulation of lymphoid cells, and rescues the mice from autoimmune disease and death. The reintroduction of IL-2-producing cells in IL-2-deficient chimeras establishes a population of CD25+CD4+ T cells, and restores the peripheral lymphoid compartments to normal. The CD25+CD4+ T cells regulated selectively the number of naive CD4+ T cells transferred into T cell-deficient hosts. The CD25+CD4+/naive CD4 T cell ratio and the sequence of cell transfer determines the homeostatic plateau of CD4+ T cells. Overall, our findings demonstrate that IL-2Rα is an absolute requirement for the development of the regulatory CD25+CD4+ T cells that control peripheral CD4 T cell homeostasis, while IL-2 is required for establishing a sizeable population of these cells in the peripheral pools.
Keywords
IL-2 receptorInterleukin 21BiologyPopulationCell biologyHomeostasisT cellInterleukin 3Natural killer T cellImmunologyImmune systemMedicine
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Publication Info
- Year
- 2002
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 169
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 4850-4860
- Citations
- 461
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Afonso R. M. Almeida,
Nicolas Legrand,
Martine Papiernik
et al.
(2002).
Homeostasis of Peripheral CD4+ T Cells: IL-2Rα and IL-2 Shape a Population of Regulatory Cells That Controls CD4+ T Cell Numbers.
The Journal of Immunology
, 169
(9)
, 4850-4860.
https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.169.9.4850
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.4049/jimmunol.169.9.4850