REGULATION OF T-CELL FUNCTION IN MUCOSAL TOLERANCE

Administering antigens through mucosal surfaces leads to the induction of antigen-specific T cell unresponsiveness. This property of the muc osal immune system is now beginning to be exploited in the design of i mmunotherapeutic strategies aimed at targeting disease-inducing T cell populations. The induction of high dose mucosal tolerance leads to th e induction of T cell anergy. Recent studies have suggested that the i nduction of anergy in vivo may not necessarily be due to a lack of cos timulation by APC, Instead, recognition of mucosal antigen leads to tr ansient T cell activation which eventually gives rise to a population of regulatory T cells whose function is to modulate, rather than promo te antigen-specific immune responses, These regulatory T cells mediate linked suppression in vivo thus enabling T cell responses directed to a multideterminant protein to be effectively controlled. The manner i n which T cell responses to mucosally delivered antigens are regulated are examined herein.