In vivo dissection of Foxp3+ regulatory T cell subpopulations and their dependence on TGFß-Smad signaling
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
Both parts of the project presented in the application made considerable progress. With regard to the itTreg‐deficient and et‐Treg deficient mouse models I obtained two mutant mice which await breeding with the corresponding deleter mice in which the Cre or Flp recombinase, resp., is expressed in mature/peripheral T cells only. With regard to the role of Smad‐binding to foxp3 enhancer in thymic and extra‐ thymic Treg development, I generated the most definitive mutant mouse to address this question and analyzed it in detail. Our data preclude a role for Smad‐binding in thymic Treg development and postulate a minor role for this TGFbeta signaling pathway in extrathymic Treg development.