Human Anti-Inflammatory Macrophages Induce Foxp3+GITR+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells, Which Suppress via Membrane-Bound TGFβ-1

Abstract

CD4+ T cell differentiation and function are critically dependent on the type of APC and the microenvironment in which Ag presentation occurs. Most studies have documented the effect of dendritic cells on effector and regulatory T cell differentiation; however, macrophages are the most abundant APCs in the periphery and can be found in virtually all organs and tissues. The effect of macrophages, and in particular their subsets, on T cell function has received little attention. Previously, we described distinct subsets of human macrophages (pro- and anti-inflammatory, mφ1 and mφ2, respectively) with highly divergent cell surface Ag expression and cytokine/chemokine production. We reported that human mφ1 promote, whereas mφ2 decrease, Th1 activation. Here, we demonstrate that mφ2, but not mφ1, induce regulatory T cells with a strong suppressive phenotype (Tmφ2). Their mechanism of suppression is cell-cell contact dependent, mediated by membrane-bound TGFβ-1 expressed on the regulatory T cell (Treg) population since inhibition of TGFβ-1 signaling in target cells blocks the regulatory phenotype. Tmφ2, in addition to mediating cell-cell contact-dependent suppression, express typical Treg markers such as CD25, glucocorticoid-induced TNF receptor (GITR), and Foxp3 and are actively induced by mφ2 from CD25-depleted cells. These data identify mφ2 cells as a novel APC subset capable of inducing Tregs. The ability of anti-inflammatory macrophages to induce Tregs in the periphery has important implications for understanding Treg dynamics in pathological conditions where macrophages play a key role in inflammatory disease control and exacerbation.