Immature dendritic cells convert anergic nonregulatory T cells into Foxp3-IL-10+ regulatory T cells by engaging CD28 and CTLA-4

Anergic T cells can survive for long time periods passively in a hyporesponsive state without obvious active functions. Thus, the immunological reason for their maintenance is unclear. Here, we induced peptide-specific anergy in T cells from mice by coculturing these cells with immature murine dendritic cells (DCs). We found that these anergic, non-suppressive IL-10(-)Foxp3(-)CTLA-4(+)CD25(low)Egr2(+)T cells could be converted into suppressive IL-10(+)Foxp3(-)CTLA-4(+)CD25(high)Egr2(+) cells resembling type-1 Treg cells (Tr1) when stimulated a second time by immature DCs in vitro. Addition of TGF-beta during anergy induction favored Foxp3(+) Treg-cell induction, while TGF-beta had little effect when added to the second stimulation. Expression of both CD28 and CTLA-4 molecules on anergic T cells was required to allow their conversion into Tr1-like cells. Suppressor activity was enabled via CD28-mediated CD25 upregulation, acting as an IL-2 sink, together with a CTLA-4-mediated inhibition of NFATc1/alpha activation to shut down IL-2-mediated proliferation. Together, these data provide evidence and mechanistical insights into how persistent anergic T cells may serve as a resting memory pool for Tr1-like cells.