T-reg cell-based therapies: challenges and perspectives

Cellular therapies using regulatory T (T-reg) cells are currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, transplant rejection and graft-versus-host disease. In this Review, we discuss the biology of T-reg cells and describe new efforts in T-reg cell engineering to enhance specificity, stability, functional activity and delivery. Finally, we envision that the success of T-reg cell therapy in autoimmunity and transplantation will encourage the clinical use of adoptive T-reg cell therapy for non-immune diseases, such as neurological disorders and tissue repair. Therapies based on adoptive cellular transfer of regulatory T (T-reg) cells are currently undergoing clinical trials for autoimmune diseases, graft-versus-host disease and the prevention of transplant rejection. This Review provides an overview of T-reg cell biology and discusses the latest approaches to enhance T-reg cells for therapeutic purposes.