A CD4(-CELL SUBSET INHIBITS ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC T-CELL RESPONSES AND PREVENTS COLITIS() T)

Induction and maintenance of peripheral tolerance are important mechan isms to maintain the balance of the immune system. In addition to the deletion of T cells and their failure to respond in certain circumstan ces, active suppression mediated by T cells or T-cell factors has been proposed as a mechanism for maintaining peripheral tolerance(1). Howe ver, the inability to isolate and clone regulatory T cells involved in antigen-specific inhibition of immune responses has made it difficult to understand the mechanisms underlying such active suppression. Here we show that chronic activation of both human and murine CD4(+) T cel ls in the presence of interleukin (IL)-10 gives rise to CD4(+) T-cell clones with low proliferative capacity, producing high levels of IL-10 , low levels of IL-2 and no IL-4. These antigen-specific T-cell clones suppress the proliferation of CD4(+) T cells in response to antigen, and prevent colitis induced in SCID mice by pathogenic CD4(+)CD45RB(hi gh) splenic T cells. Thus IL-10 drives the generation of a CD4(+) T-ce ll subset, designated T regulatory cells 1 (Tr1), which suppresses ant igen-specific immune responses and actively downregulates a pathologic al immune response in vivo.