Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
A key issue in mammalian immunology is how CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (T(reg) cells) suppress immune responses. Here we show that T(reg) cells induced apoptosis of effector CD4+ T cells in vitro and in vivo in a mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease. T(reg) cells did not affect the early activation or proliferation of effector CD4+ T cells. Cytokines that signal through the common gamma-chain suppressed T(reg) cell-induced apoptosis. T(reg) cell-induced effector CD4+ T cell death required the proapoptotic protein Bim, and effector CD4+ T cells incubated with T(reg) cells showed less activation of the prosurvival kinase Akt and less phosphorylation of the proapoptotic protein Bad. Thus, cytokine deprivation-induced apoptosis is a prominent mechanism by which T(reg) cells inhibit effector T cell responses.