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Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease

The evolution of the full range of functions of regulatory T cells (Treg) coincides with the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Accordingly, Treg function has been shown to be crucial for maternal-fetal tolerance and implantation. As reproduction is a key point of selective pressure, mammalian pregna...

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Autores principales: Martini, Elisa, Giugliano, Silvia, Rescigno, Maria, Kallikourdis, Marinos
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7136891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32296427
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00509
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author Martini, Elisa
Giugliano, Silvia
Rescigno, Maria
Kallikourdis, Marinos
author_facet Martini, Elisa
Giugliano, Silvia
Rescigno, Maria
Kallikourdis, Marinos
author_sort Martini, Elisa
collection PubMed
description The evolution of the full range of functions of regulatory T cells (Treg) coincides with the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Accordingly, Treg function has been shown to be crucial for maternal-fetal tolerance and implantation. As reproduction is a key point of selective pressure, mammalian pregnancy may represent an evolutionary driver for the development of Treg. Yet beyond the chronological boundaries of mammalian pregnancy, several key physiological and pathological events are being gradually uncovered as involving the immunomodulating functions of Treg cells. These include autoimmunity, age-related inflammation in males and in post-menopausal females, but also oncological and cardiovascular diseases. The latter two sets of diseases collectively compose the main causes of mortality world-wide. Emerging data point to Treg-modulable effects in these diseases, in a departure from the relatively narrower perceived role of Treg as master regulators of autoimmunity. Yet recent evidence also suggests that changes in intestinal microbiota can affect the above pathological conditions. This is likely due to the finding that, whilst the presence and maintenance of intestinal microbiota requires active immune tolerance, mediated by Treg, the existence of microbiota per se profoundly affects the polarization, stability, and balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory T cell populations, including Treg and induced Treg cells. The study of these “novel,” but possibly highly relevant from an ontogenesis perspective, facets of Treg function may hold great potential for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying human disease.
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spelling pubmed-71368912020-04-15 Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Martini, Elisa Giugliano, Silvia Rescigno, Maria Kallikourdis, Marinos Front Immunol Immunology The evolution of the full range of functions of regulatory T cells (Treg) coincides with the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Accordingly, Treg function has been shown to be crucial for maternal-fetal tolerance and implantation. As reproduction is a key point of selective pressure, mammalian pregnancy may represent an evolutionary driver for the development of Treg. Yet beyond the chronological boundaries of mammalian pregnancy, several key physiological and pathological events are being gradually uncovered as involving the immunomodulating functions of Treg cells. These include autoimmunity, age-related inflammation in males and in post-menopausal females, but also oncological and cardiovascular diseases. The latter two sets of diseases collectively compose the main causes of mortality world-wide. Emerging data point to Treg-modulable effects in these diseases, in a departure from the relatively narrower perceived role of Treg as master regulators of autoimmunity. Yet recent evidence also suggests that changes in intestinal microbiota can affect the above pathological conditions. This is likely due to the finding that, whilst the presence and maintenance of intestinal microbiota requires active immune tolerance, mediated by Treg, the existence of microbiota per se profoundly affects the polarization, stability, and balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory T cell populations, including Treg and induced Treg cells. The study of these “novel,” but possibly highly relevant from an ontogenesis perspective, facets of Treg function may hold great potential for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying human disease. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC7136891/ /pubmed/32296427 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00509 Text en Copyright © 2020 Martini, Giugliano, Rescigno and Kallikourdis. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Martini, Elisa
Giugliano, Silvia
Rescigno, Maria
Kallikourdis, Marinos
Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease
title Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease
title_full Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease
title_fullStr Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease
title_full_unstemmed Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease
title_short Regulatory T Cells Beyond Autoimmunity: From Pregnancy to Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease
title_sort regulatory t cells beyond autoimmunity: from pregnancy to cancer and cardiovascular disease
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7136891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32296427
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00509
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