Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:09:26 BST CiteULike: AlfonsoVicenteSuarez's Carayanniotis http://www.citeulike.org/user/AlfonsoVicenteSuarez/author/Carayanniotis CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/AlfonsoVicenteSuarez/article/1531229 <i>J Immunol, Vol. 174, No. 11. (1 June 2005), pp. 7433-7439.</i><br /><br />Ex vivo treatment of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) with TNF-alpha has been previously shown to induce partial maturation of DCs that are able to suppress autoimmunity. In this study, we demonstrate that i.v. administration of TNF-alpha-treated, semimature DCs pulsed with thyrogloblin (Tg), but not with OVA Ag, inhibits the subsequent development of Tg-induced experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT) in CBA/J mice. This protocol activates CD4+CD25+ T cells in vivo, which secrete IL-10 upon specific recognition of Tg in vitro and express regulatory T cell (Treg)-associated markers such as glucocorticoid-induced TNFR, CTLA-4, and Foxp3. These CD4+CD25+ Treg cells suppressed the proliferation and cytokine release of Tg-specific, CD4+CD25- effector cells in vitro, in an IL-10-independent, cell contact-dependent manner. Prior adoptive transfer of the same CD4+CD25+ Treg cells into CBA/J hosts suppressed Tg-induced EAT. These results demonstrate that the tolerogenic potential of Tg-pulsed, semimature DCs in EAT is likely to be mediated through the selective activation of Tg-specific CD4+CD25+ Treg cells and provide new insights for the study of Ag-specific immunoregulation of autoimmune diseases. Tolerogenic Semimature Dendritic Cells Suppress Experimental Autoimmune Thyroiditis by Activation of Thyroglobulin-Specific CD4+CD25+ T Cells Panayotis Verginis Haiyan Li George Carayanniotis J Immunol, Vol. 174, No. 11. (1 June 2005), pp. 7433-7439. 2007-08-02T20:02:14-00:00 2005 J Immunol 174 11 7433 7439 tolerogenic-dcs