European journal of immunology
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Successful resolution of inflammation requires inflammatory cells such as neutrophils to undergo apoptosis prior to non-inflammatory phagocytosis by professional phagocytes. Recently, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors (e.g. R-roscovitine) have been shown to induce neutrophil apoptosis and enhance the resolution of inflammation. ⋯ Here, we demonstrate that R-roscovitine over-rides TNF-alpha and LPS-induced survival (determined by morphological examination and binding of fluorescently labelled annexin-V) of isolated peripheral blood neutrophils. This effect did not appear to be mediated via effects on early markers of neutrophil activation (e.g. surface marker expression, shape change, aggregation and superoxide anion generation), by direct inhibition of NF-kappaB activation (assessed by cytoplasmic IkappaBalpha proteolysis and NF-kappaB p65 subunit translocation) and ERK activation (determined by specific ERK phosphorylation) but due to down-regulation (at protein and mRNA level) of the survival protein Mcl-1 but not the pro-apoptotic bcl-2 homologue Bim. These findings suggest that key endogenous survival proteins may be the targets of CDK inhibitors and consequently may be of critical importance in the resolution of inflammation.
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Previously, we found that co-expression of CD25 and TNFR2 identified the most suppressive subset of mouse Treg. In this study, we report that human peripheral blood (PB) FOXP3(+) cells present in CD25(high), CD25(low) and even CD25(-) subsets of CD4(+) cells expressed high levels of TNFR2. Consequently, TNFR2-expressing CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg included all of the FOXP3(+) cells present in the CD4(+)CD25(high) subset as well as a substantial proportion of the FOXP3(+) cells present in the CD4(+)CD25(low) subset. ⋯ Upon TCR stimulation, human PB CD4(+)CD25(+)TNFR2(+) cells were anergic and markedly inhibited the proliferation and cytokine production of co-cultured T-responder cells. In contrast, CD4(+)CD25(+)TNFR2(-) and CD4(+)CD25(-)TNFR2(+) T cells did not show inhibitory activity. As some non-Treg express TNFR2, the combination of CD25 and TNFR2 must be used to identify a larger population of human Treg, a population that may prove to be of diagnostic and therapeutic benefit in cancer and autoimmune diseases.