The Role of T Cell Tolerance in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases
Kyungho Choi, MD, PhD
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Many of Autoimmune diseases are caused by hyperactivation of autoreactive T cells. Therefore,
immunosuppressive pharmaceuticals have been widely used for treatment of autoimmune
diseases. However, general suppression of immune system can elicit adverse side effects such as
opportunistic infections and cancers. Thus, the long-lasting, specific inhibition of pathogenic T cells
following short-term treatment will be an ideal way of treating these chronic diseases. Physiologically
autoreactive T cells are effectively controlled by antigen-specific long-term inhibitory machinery
called T cell tolerance. Hence, T cell tolerance induction therapy in established autoimmune diseases
such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis are actively investigated both experimentally and in
clinic. In this review, I will discuss the basic mechanism of T cell tolerance and theoretical framework
of translating these concepts to clinical therapeutics.
Journal of Multiple Sclerosis 4(1):13-18, 2013
keyword : T cell tolerance, Autoimmune diseases, Two signal hypothesis, T cell anergy, Regulatory
