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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

role of CD5, T cell function

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

Abstract

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) inhibit the immune response and play a key role in preventing autoimmunity. Unfortunately, Tregs also often prevent an effective immunological response against cancer. CD5 is a T cell surface protein known to regulate the threshold for T cell activation. CD5 is known to influence Treg development, but it is unclear exactly how CD5 impacts the function of Tregs.

Past studies have indicated that mice lacking CD5, known as CD5 knockouts, produce more Tregs than wild type mice (1). It is thought that Tregs from these CD5 knockouts may be more effective in preventing T cells from being activated. Studies have confirmed an increase in Tregs in CD5 knockouts while noting that typical Tregs contain high levels of CD5 (2). Recent studies have found that high expression of CD5 prevents processes that normally stop the development of Tregs (3). It seems contradictory that the absence of CD5 would lead to an increase in Tregs when it is evident that CD5 plays a role in encouraging Treg activation. The actual effect of CD5 of Treg suppressive capacity requires further elucidation. Our goal was to determine how effective CD5 deficient Tregs are in suppressing an immune response in comparison to Tregs with CD5.

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