Submitted on January 14, 2008
Accepted on April 11, 2008
Coordination of Early Protective Immunity to Viral Infection by Regulatory T Cells
Jennifer M. Lund 1, Lianne Hsing 1, Thuy T. Pham 1, Alexander Y. Rudensky 1*
1 Department of Immunology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Alexander Y. Rudensky , E-mail: aruden{at}u.washington.edu
Suppression of immune responses by regulatory T cells (Treg) is thought to limit late stages of pathogen-specific immunity as a means of minimizing associated tissue damage. Here, we examined a role for Tregs during mucosal HSV infection, and observe an accelerated fatal infection with increased viral loads in the mucosa and central nervous system after ablation of Tregs. Although augmented interferon production was detected in the draining lymph nodes (dLN) in Treg-deprived mice, it was profoundly reduced at the infection site. This was associated with a delay in the arrival of natural killer cells, dendritic cells, and T cells to the site of infection and a sharp increase in pro-inflammatory chemokine levels in the dLNs. Our results suggest that Tregs facilitate early protective responses to local viral infection by allowing a timely entry of immune cells into infected tissue.
