Pharmacological modulation of T cell immunity results in long-term remission of autoimmune arthritis.

ABSTRACT: Chronic inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by a deficit in fully functional regulatory T cells. DNA-methylation inhibitors have previously been shown to promote regulatory T cell responses and, in the present study, we evaluated their potential to ameliorate chronic and acute animal models of rheumatoid arthritis. Of the drugs tested, decitabine was the most effective, producing a sustained therapeutic effect that was dependent on indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and was associated with expansion of induced regulatory T cells, particularly at the site of disease activity. Treatment with decitabine also caused apoptosis of Th1 and Th17 cells in active arthritis in a highly selective manner. The molecular basis for this selectivity was shown to be ENT1, a nucl

SUBMITTER: Huang YS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8126779 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature