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The role of all-trans retinoic acid in the biology of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 12, pages 553–557 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are necessary for immune system homeostasis and the prevention of autoimmune diseases. Foxp3 is specifically expressed in Treg cells and plays a key role in their differentiation and function. Foxp3+ Treg cells are consisted of naturally occurring, thymus-derived Treg (nTreg) and peripheral-induced Treg (iTreg) cells that may have different functional characteristics or synergistic roles. All-trans retinoic acid (atRA), a vitamin A metabolite, regulates a wide range of biological processes, including cell differentiation and proliferation. Recent studies demonstrated that atRA also regulates the differentiation of T helper (Th) cells and Treg cells. Moreover, atRA also sustains nTreg stability under inflammatory conditions. In this review, we summarize the significant progress of our understanding of the role(s) and mechanisms of atRA in Treg biology.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by grants from the NIH AR059103 and AI084359 (to SGZ), from the National Natural Science Foundation of China 81274161 and 81001307, the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China Y2090918, the Health Bureau of Zhejiang Province 2012RCA046 (to JM) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China 81370433, 81170084 (to ZL).

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  1. Zhong-Min Liu and Kun-Peng Wang: These authors contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Translational Medicine, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Zhong-Min Liu & Song Guo Zheng

  2. Division of Rheumatology, Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

    Kun-Peng Wang, Jilin Ma & Song Guo Zheng

  3. Division of Liver Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

    Kun-Peng Wang

  4. Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Nephrology, Zhejiang Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Hospital, Hangzhou, China

    Jilin Ma

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  1. Zhong-Min Liu
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Correspondence to Song Guo Zheng.

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Liu, ZM., Wang, KP., Ma, J. et al. The role of all-trans retinoic acid in the biology of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Cell Mol Immunol 12, 553–557 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2014.133

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