Chemokines, chemokine receptors and CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T cells

Abstract

The fields of regulatory T (Treg) cells and chemokines/chemokine receptors have progressed rapidly in the last few years. Treg cells, especially CD4⁺CD25⁺ Treg cells, play a critical role in maintaining self-tolerance and immune homeostasis. Chemokines and chemokine receptors are crucial for lymphoid development, homing and immunological regulation. This review will discuss the biological effects of chemokines and chemokine receptors on regulating the migration and development of CD4⁺CD25⁺ Treg cells, and the potential clinical implications of these findings when considering chemokine receptors as therapeutic targets.

Keywords::

• CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells
• chemokine
• chemokine receptor
• immune tolerance
• regulatory T cells

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Clara He for her critical review of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars (C03020504, Y.Z.), the National Basic Research Program (973 Program, 2003CB515501, Y.Z.), 100 Quality Vocational Colleges of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2003–85, Y.Z.) and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars of State Education Ministry (2005–546, Y.Z.).