¹Diabetes Research Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Correspondence: S. Brian Wilson, MD, PhD, Diabetes Research Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Email: bwilson@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Received 11 March 2004; Accepted 11 March 2004.

Abstract

CD1-restricted T cells have been shown to play a critical role in host defence, tumour surveillance, and maintenance of tolerance. However, immunologic outcomes resulting from activation of CD1d-restricted T cells can be either beneficial or deleterious. A major mechanism by which CD1d-restricted T cells are thought to exert immunoregulatory control is via effects on dendritic cell (DC) differentiation and migration. Important functional subsets of CD1d-restricted T cells are also known to exist and the potential implications for preferential subset activations are discussed.