Transplantation tolerance is a continuing therapeutic goal, and it is now clear that a subpopulation of T cells with regulatory activity (Treg) that express the transcription factor foxp3 are crucial to this aspiration. Although reprogramming of the immune system to donorspecific transplantation tolerance can be readily achieved in adult mouse models, it has yet to be successfully translated in...

In primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the breach of tolerance that leads to active disease involves a disruption in several layers of control, including central tolerance, peripheral anergy, a "liver tolerance effect," and the action of T regulatory cells and their related cytokines. Each of these control mechanisms plays a role in preventing an immune response against self, but all of them act i...

Cytokines and metabolic pathway-controlling enzymes regulate immune responses and have potential as powerful tools to mediate immune tolerance. Blockade of the interaction between CD40 and CD40L induces long-term cardiac allograft survival in rats through a CD8+CD45RClo Treg potentiation. Here, we have shown that the cytokine IL-34, the immunoregulatory properties of which have not been previou...

Under certain instances, factor VIII (FVIII) stimulates an immune response, and the resulting neutralizing antibodies present a significant clinical challenge. Immunotherapies to re-establish or induce long-term tolerance would be beneficial, and an in-depth knowledge of mechanisms involved in tolerance induction is essential to develop immune-modulating strategies. We have developed a murine m...

Each response made by our immune system is either to promote or to prevent immune reactivity. That the immune system can successfully achieve both goals under specific biological conditions depends on central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms. Over the years, various experimental systems have been generated to study peripheral CD4 T cell tolerance. The experimental approaches are clearly dive...

Recipients of liver transplantation (LT) require long-term immunosuppressive drug treatment, but lifelong immunosuppressive treatment has severe side effects. It is known that some LT recipients develop immune tolerance, and although the development of such operational tolerance should allow a decrease in the burden of immunosuppressive drug treatment, the factors that indicate operational tole...

Bronchial asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory condition with high morbidity, and effective treatments for asthma are limited. Allergen-specific immunotherapy can only induce peripheral immune tolerance and is not sustainable. Exploring new therapeutic strategies is of great clinical importance. Recombinant adenovirus (rAdV) was used as a vector to make cells expressing cytotoxic T lymphocyt...

Immune tolerance is critical to the avoidance of unwarranted immune responses against self antigens. Multiple, non-redundant checkpoints are in place to prevent such potentially deleterious autoimmune responses while preserving immunity integral to the fight against foreign pathogens. Nevertheless, a large and growing segment of the population is developing autoimmune diseases. Deciphering cell...