TGF-β Activation and Function in Immunity

The cytokine TGF-β plays an integral role in regulating immune responses. TGF-β has pleiotropic effects on adaptive immunity, especially in the regulation of effector and regulatory CD4(+) T cell responses. Many immune and nonimmune cells can produce TGF-β, but it is always produced as an inactive complex that must be activated to exert functional effects. Thus, activation of latent TGF-β provides a crucial layer of regulation that controls TGF-β function. In this review, we highlight some of the important functional roles for TGF-β in immunity, focusing on its context-specific roles in either dampening or promoting T cell responses. We also describe how activation of TGF-β controls its function in the immune…

• P
  Pfizer
• G
  GlaxoSmithKline
• MC
  Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: HL108794, AI077439
• DF
  Directorate for Biological Sciences
• MR
  Medical Research Council