TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dahlhoff, Julia
A1  - Manz, Hannah
A1  - Steinfatt, Tim
A1  - Delgado-Tascon, Julia
A1  - Seebacher, Elena
A1  - Schneider, Theresa
A1  - Wilnit, Amy
A1  - Mokhtari, Zeinab
A1  - Tabares, Paula
A1  - Böckle, David
A1  - Rasche, Leo
A1  - Martin Kortüm, K.
A1  - Lutz, Manfred B.
A1  - Einsele, Hermann
A1  - Brandl, Andreas
A1  - Beilhack, Andreas
T1  - Transient regulatory T-cell targeting triggers immune control of multiple myeloma and prevents disease progression
JF  - Leukemia
N2  - Multiple myeloma remains a largely incurable disease of clonally expanding malignant plasma cells. The bone marrow microenvironment harbors treatment-resistant myeloma cells, which eventually lead to disease relapse in patients. In the bone marrow, CD4\(^{+}\)FoxP3\(^{+}\) regulatory T cells (Tregs) are highly abundant amongst CD4\(^{+}\) T cells providing an immune protective niche for different long-living cell populations, e.g., hematopoietic stem cells. Here, we addressed the functional role of Tregs in multiple myeloma dissemination to bone marrow compartments and disease progression. To investigate the immune regulation of multiple myeloma, we utilized syngeneic immunocompetent murine multiple myeloma models in two different genetic backgrounds. Analyzing the spatial immune architecture of multiple myeloma revealed that the bone marrow Tregs accumulated in the vicinity of malignant plasma cells and displayed an activated phenotype. In vivo Treg depletion prevented multiple myeloma dissemination in both models. Importantly, short-term in vivo depletion of Tregs in mice with established multiple myeloma evoked a potent CD8 T cell- and NK cell-mediated immune response resulting in complete and stable remission. Conclusively, this preclinical in-vivo study suggests that Tregs are an attractive target for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
KW  - Multiple myeloma
KW  - transient regulatory T-cell targeting
KW  - immune control
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-271787
SN  - 1476-5551
VL  - 36
IS  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Thomann, Anna Sophie
A1  - Schneider, Theresa
A1  - Cyran, Laura
A1  - Eckert, Ina Nathalie
A1  - Kerstan, Andreas
A1  - Lutz, Manfred B.
T1  - Conversion of Anergic T Cells Into Foxp3\(^-\) IL-10\(^+\) Regulatory T Cells by a Second Antigen Stimulus In Vivo
JF  - Frontiers in Immunology
N2  - T cell anergy is a common mechanism of T cell tolerance. However, although anergic T cells are retained for longer time periods in their hosts, they remain functionally passive. Here, we describe the induction of anergic CD4\(^+\) T cells in vivo by intravenous application of high doses of antigen and their subsequent conversion into suppressive Foxp3\(^-\) IL-10\(^+\) Tr1 cells but not Foxp3\(^+\) Tregs. We describe the kinetics of up-regulation of several memory-, anergy- and suppression-related markers such as CD44, CD73, FR4, CD25, CD28, PD-1, Egr-2, Foxp3 and CTLA-4 in this process. The conversion into suppressive Tr1 cells correlates with the transient intracellular CTLA-4 expression and required the restimulation of anergic cells in a short-term time window. Restimulation after longer time periods, when CTLA-4 is down-regulated again retains the anergic state but does not lead to the induction of suppressor function. Our data require further functional investigations but at this stage may suggest a role for anergic T cells as a circulating pool of passive cells that may be re-activated into Tr1 cells upon short-term restimulation with high and systemic doses of antigen. It is tentative to speculate that such a scenario may represent cases of allergen responses in non-allergic individuals.
KW  - T cells
KW  - anergy
KW  - Tr1
KW  - conversion
KW  - in vivo
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-241429
SN  - 1664-3224
VL  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Döhler, Anja
A1  - Schneider, Theresa
A1  - Eckert, Ina
A1  - Ribechini, Eliana
A1  - Andreas, Nico
A1  - Riemann, Marc
A1  - Reizis, Boris
A1  - Weih, Falk
A1  - Lutz, Manfred B.
T1  - RelB\(^{+}\) Steady-State Migratory Dendritic Cells Control the Peripheral Pool of the Natural Foxp3\(^{+}\) Regulatory T Cells
JF  - Frontiers in Immunology
N2  - Thymus-derived natural Foxp3\(^{+}\) CD4\(^{+}\) regulatory T cells (nTregs) play a key role in maintaining immune tolerance and preventing autoimmune disease. Several studies indicate that dendritic cells (DCs) are critically involved in the maintenance and proliferation of nTregs. However, the mechanisms how DCs manage to keep the peripheral pool at constant levels remain poorly understood. Here, we describe that the NF-κB/Rel family transcription factor RelB controls the frequencies of steady-state migratory DCs (ssmDCs) in peripheral lymph nodes and their numbers control peripheral nTreg homeostasis. DC-specific RelB depletion was investigated in CD11c-Cre × RelB\(^{fl/fl}\) mice (RelB\(^{DCko}\)), which showed normal frequencies of resident DCs in lymph nodes and spleen while the subsets of CD103\(^{-}\) Langerin\(^{-}\) dermal DCs (dDCs) and Langerhans cells but not CD103\(^{+}\) Langerin\(^{+}\) dDC of the ssmDCs in skin-draining lymph nodes were increased. Enhanced frequencies and proliferation rates were also observed for nTregs and a small population of CD4\(^{+}\) CD44\(^{high}\) CD25\(^{low}\) memory-like T cells (Tml). Interestingly, only the Tml but not DCs showed an increase in IL-2-producing capacity in lymph nodes of RelB\(^{DCko}\) mice. Blocking of IL-2 in vivo reduced the frequency of nTregs but increased the Tml frequencies, followed by a recovery of nTregs. Taken together, by employing RelB\(^{DCko}\) mice with increased frequencies of ssmDCs our data indicate a critical role for specific ssmDC subsets for the peripheral nTreg and IL-2\(^{+}\) Tml frequencies during homeostasis.
KW  - lymph nodes
KW  - dendritic cells
KW  - RelB
KW  - regulatory T cells
KW  - IL-2
Y1  - 2017
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-158121
VL  - 8
IS  - 726
ER  -