International Mammalian Genome Society

17th International Mouse Genome Conference

9-12 November 2003, Braunschweig, Germany

Plenary Presentations * Oral Presentations *
Poster Presentations: Behavioural Genetics and Genomics * Development and Stem Cells * Functional Genome Analysis * Mouse Models of Human Disease * Mouse System Biology Bioinformatics * Multigenic and Multifactorial Trait Analysis * Nutrition and Metabolic Disease * Phenotyping Methods Imaging * The Genetics and Genomics of Infectious Disease *
Verne Chapman Memorial Lecture * Table of Contents * Sponsor/Exhibitor List * Awards * Photographs

---

POSTER 35 - NEUROPILIN-1: A SURFACE MARKER OF REGULATORY T CELLS

Hansen W
German Research Centre for Biotechnology

Co-Authors: 1) Bruder D, 2) Probst-Kepper M, 1) Westendorf A 1) Geffers R 3) von Boehmer H 1) Buer J
Institutions: 1) German Research Centre for Biotechnology, 2) Hannover Medical School 3) Harvard Medical School

Regulatory CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells (T_R) control immune responsiveness to self- and alloantigens. Isolation and therapeutic manipulation of regulatory T cells requires the use of reliable surface receptors being selectively up-regulated in T_R cells. Here, we report a comparative expression profiling of polyclonal CD4⁺CD25 ⁺ T_R cells from wild type mice and monospecific CD4⁺ T_R obtained from hemagglutinin (HA)-specific T-cell-receptor transgenic mice (TCR-HA) crossed to mice expressing HA under control of the Igκ promotor (Ig-HA). Out of 12500 genes analyzed we identified neuropilin-1 (Nrp1) as a specific surface marker for CD4⁺CD25⁺ T_R cells. Nrp1, a receptor involved in axon guidance, angiogenesis, and the activation of T cells, is constitutively expressed on CD4⁺CD25⁺ T_R cells independent of their activation status. On the contrary, Nrp1 expression is lost in naïve CD4⁺CD25^- T cells after T cell receptor stimulation. Furthermore, CD4⁺Nrp1^high T cells express high levels of Foxp3 and confer suppressor function on CD4⁺CD25^- T cells. Thus, Nrp1 represents the first surface marker to distinguish regulatory T cells from both naïve and recently activated CD4⁺CD25⁺ non-regulatory T cells.