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Blood, 1 February 2008, Vol. 111, No. 3, pp. 1726-1734.
Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on November 19, 2007; DOI 10.1182/blood-2007-08-106526.
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Submitted August 20, 2007
Accepted November 16, 2007
Characterization of in vitro anti-murine thymocyte globulin-induced regulatory T cells which inhibit graft-versus-host disease in vivo
Melanie C Ruzek*, James S Waire, Deborah Hopkins, Gina LaCorcia, Jennifer Sullivan, Bruce L Roberts, Susan M Richards, Sharon R Nahill, John M Williams, Abraham Scaria, John Dzuris, Srinivas Shankara, and Richard D Garman
Immunology and Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Biologics R&D, Genzyme Corporation, Framingham, MA, United States
Applied Genomics, Science Research, Genzyme Corporation, Framingham, MA, United States
Immune Mediated Disease Biology, Science Research, Genzyme Corporation, Framingham, MA, United States
Molecular Biology, Science Research, Genzyme Corporation, Framingham, MA, United States
* Corresponding author; email: melanie.ruzek{at}genzyme.com.
Anti-thymocyte/lymphocyte globulins are polyclonal anti-human T cell antibodies used clinically to treat acute transplant rejection. These reagents deplete T cells, but a rabbit-anti-human thymocyte globulin has also been shown to induce regulatory T cells in vitro. To examine whether anti-thymocyte globulin-induced regulatory cells might be functional in vivo, we generated a corresponding rabbit anti-murine thymocyte globulin (mATG) and tested its ability to induce regulatory cells in vitro and whether those cells can inhibit acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in vivo upon adoptive transfer. In vitro mATG induces a population of CD4+CD25+ cells that express several cell surface molecules representative of regulatory T cells. These cells do not express Foxp3 at either the protein or mRNA level, but do show suppressive function both in vitro and in vivo when adoptively transferred into a model of GVHD. These results demonstrate that in a murine system, anti-thymocyte globulin induces cells with suppressive activity that also function in vivo to protect against acute GVHD. Thus, in both murine and human systems, anti-thymocyte globulins not only deplete T cells, but also appear to generate regulatory cells. The in vitro generation of regulatory cells by anti-thymocyte globulins could provide additional therapeutic modalities for immune mediated disease.

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