engleski

Cross-talk between regulatory T (Treg) and NKT cells in environmental diseases

The ability of extracellular stimuli to modulate innate immune response was not well understood. Natural killer (NK) and NKT cells are important in innate immune defense. The immune system's capacity to distinguish between innocuous and harmful foreign antigens is controlled by mechanisms of central and peripheral tolerance. Mechanisms of peripheral tolerance involve the induction of cell death or the development of a no responsive state (anergy) of T cells. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have active suppression mode and may induce peripheral tolerance. Tregs often benefit the host in autoimmune, allergic, infectious diseases as well as in cancer and transplantation. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of urban air pollution on the role of Tregs and NKT cells and compared that with spirometry tests. We characterized immune response, using flow cytometric analysis (FACSCalibur) to determine the phenotypic profile of isolating human peripheral blood lymphocytes of inhabitants living in industrial areas and compared with them living in rural fields and with healthy volunteers. Results: 59, 1% inhabitants from industrial areas have moderate and severe restriction/obstruction spirometry tests, compared to 15% inhabitants from rural areas. People from industrial areas have statistically significant increased values of NKT and Tregs, but in group with spirometry’ s changes have decreased number of these cells. NKT and Tregs have the ability to moderate immune response induced by urban air pollution and their role in environmental diseases is marked. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by grants from the Croatian Ministry of Science (No 0620096-0094 and 0621341-0308).

environmental factors; immune response; NKT cells; Tregs

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