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Regulatory T cells in the face of the intestinal microbiota

Abstract

Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) are key players in ensuring a peaceful coexistence with microorganisms and food antigens at intestinal borders. Startling new information has appeared in recent years on their diversity, the importance of the transcription factor FOXP3, how T cell receptors influence their fate and the unexpected and varied cellular partners that influence Treg cell homeostatic setpoints. We also revisit some tenets, maintained by the echo chambers of Reviews, that rest on uncertain foundations or are a subject of debate.

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Fig. 1: The many influencers and functions of intestinal regulatory T cell subsets.
Fig. 2: Transcription factor activities across colonic regulatory T cell populations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank B. Blazar, C. Brown, J. Faith, M. Fischbach, C. S. Hsieh, S. Josefowicz, K. Kretschmer, M. O. Li, D. Littman, A. Rudensky and G. Thangavelu for insightful discussions and/or suggestions or corrections on the draft. Relevant work in the laboratory was supported by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants AI125603 and AI150686.

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Ramanan, D., Pratama, A., Zhu, Y. et al. Regulatory T cells in the face of the intestinal microbiota. Nat Rev Immunol 23, 749–762 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-023-00890-w

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