Understanding FOXP3: Progress Towards Achieving Transplantation Tolerance

Long, Elaine; Wood, Kathryn J.

Transplant Research Immunology Group, Nuffield Department of Surgery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Address correspondence to: Elaine Long, Ph.D., Transplant Research Immunology Group, Nuffield Department of Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom.

E-mail:[email protected]

Received 5 March 2007. Revision requested 26 April 2007.

Accepted 14 May 2007.

Transplantation84(4):p 459-461, August 27, 2007. |DOI:10.1097/01.tp.0000275424.52998.ad

Abstract

Regulatory T cells (Treg) suppress immune responses, making them an exciting therapeutic target for achieving operational transplant tolerance. Recent observations have identified forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) as a master gene required for the development and function of Treg. Improving our understanding of FOXP3 may facilitate methods for identifying and generating Treg.