AUTOIMMUNITY part 77

CELL THERAPY

Another promising possibility involves manipulating tolerance through the use of suppressor T cells or immature dendritic cells. Decreasing the numbers of CD25CD24Foxp3 cell in mice can induce a variety of organ specific autoimmune conditions. Conversely, expansion of this subset can be used to induce immune tolerance in transplantation models. There is considerable interest in the potential use of Treg expansion either in vivo or in vitro in the treatment for autoimmune disease. Treg are highly  proliferative in vivo, and certain drugs, such as rapamycin, may increase the ratio of Treg to T effector cells. Alternatively, Treg can be expanded  in vitro in the presence of high doses of IL-2 and self antigen followed by reinfusion, an approach that has been used successfully in the treatment of TID in NOD mice.