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Regulatory T cells mediate maternal tolerance to the fetus
Ist Teil von
Nature immunology, 2004-03, Vol.5 (3), p.266-271
Ort / Verlag
United States: Nature Publishing Group
Erscheinungsjahr
2004
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
MEDLINE
Beschreibungen/Notizen
Pregnancy constitutes a major challenge to the maternal immune system, as it has to tolerate the persistence of paternal alloantigen. Although localized mechanisms contribute to fetal evasion from immune attack, maternal alloreactive lymphocytes persist. We demonstrate here an alloantigen-independent, systemic expansion of the maternal CD25+ T cell pool during pregnancy and show that this population contains dominant regulatory T cell activity. In addition to their function in suppressing autoimmune responses, maternal regulatory T cells suppressed an aggressive allogeneic response directed against the fetus. Their absence led to a failure of gestation due to immunological rejection of the fetus.