PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Woo, Edward Y.
AU  - Yeh, Heidi
AU  - Chu, Christina S.
AU  - Schlienger, Katia
AU  - Carroll, Richard G.
AU  - Riley, James L.
AU  - Kaiser, Larry R.
AU  - June, Carl H.
TI  - Cutting Edge: Regulatory T Cells from Lung Cancer Patients Directly Inhibit Autologous T Cell Proliferation
AID  - 10.4049/jimmunol.168.9.4272
DP  - 2002 May 01
TA  - The Journal of Immunology
PG  - 4272--4276
VI  - 168
IP  - 9
4099  - http://www.jimmunol.org/content/168/9/4272.short
4100  - http://www.jimmunol.org/content/168/9/4272.full
SO  - J. Immunol.2002 May 01; 168
AB  - Active suppression by T regulatory cells plays an important role in the down-regulation of T cell responses to foreign and self-Ags. Thus far, the potential role of CD4+CD25+ T cells in human tumors has not been reported. In this work we show that lung tumors contain large numbers of these cells and that they have constitutive high-level expression of CD152 (CTLA-4). Furthermore, the CD4+CD25+ T cells mediate potent inhibition of autologous T cell proliferation. Finally, regulatory T cells from patient tumors failed to inhibit the proliferation of allogeneic T cells. Together these results suggest that the CD4+CD25+ T cells found in lung tumors selectively inhibit the host immune response and therefore could contribute to the progression of lung cancer.