Progesterone suppresses the mTOR pathway and promotes generation of induced regulatory T cells with increased stability.

ABSTRACT: While induced FoxP3(+) T cells (iTreg cells) are promising cellular therapeutics to treat inflammatory diseases, a limitation in utilizing iTreg cells prepared in vitro is their low stability in inflammatory conditions. Progesterone (P4) is an immune regulatory nuclear hormone with a potent Treg induction activity. We reasoned that this function of progesterone would be utilized to generate iTreg cells with highly suppressive activity and improved stability in vivo. Here we generated iTreg cells with progesterone in vitro and found that progesterone generates iTreg cells that are highly stable in inflammatory conditions. Moreover, P4-induced iTreg cells highly express latency-associated peptide TGF-β1 and are efficient in regulating inflammation in multiple tissues, whereas control iTreg

SUBMITTER: Lee JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3668644 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature