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Autoimmunity

Treg cells augment self-tolerance during infection

Nature Immunology volume 26, pages 650–652 (2025)Cite this article

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A fine balance is needed for Treg cells to enable immune responses to pathogens without triggering autoimmunity. Data now show that thymus-derived self-peptide-specific Treg cells suppress conventional T cells during infection, but enable immune responses to pathogen-derived peptides, thus promoting self–nonself discrimination.

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Fig. 1: Maintenance of immune self-tolerance by Treg cells in steady state and infection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Ryoji Kawakami & Shimon Sakaguchi

  2. Department of Experimental Immunology, Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Shimon Sakaguchi

Authors
  1. Ryoji Kawakami
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  2. Shimon Sakaguchi
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Correspondence to Shimon Sakaguchi.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Kawakami, R., Sakaguchi, S. Treg cells augment self-tolerance during infection. Nat Immunol 26, 650–652 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02141-7

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