Inhibition of CD8+ T cells and elimination of myeloid cells by CD4+ Foxp3- T regulatory type 1 cells in acute respiratory distress syndrome

Acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are caused by rapid-onset bilateral pulmonary inflammation. We therefore investigated the potential role of interleukin (IL)-10(+)CD4(+)Tr1 cells, a regulatory T cell subset with previously identified immunosuppressive functions, in ARDS patients. We first showed that circulating Tr1 cells were upregulated in active and resolved ARDS patients compared to healthy controls and pneumonia patient controls. A significant fraction of these Tr1 cells expressed granzyme B and perforin, while most Tr1 cells did not express interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), IL-4, IL-17 or FOXP3, suggesting that the effector functions of these Tr1 cells were primarily mediated by IL-10, granzyme B, and perforin. Indeed, Tr1 cells effectively suppressed CD8(+) T cell IFN-gamma production and induced lysis of monocytes and dendritic cells in vitro. The elimination of myeloid antigen-presenting cells depended on granzyme B production. We also discovered that Tr1 cells could be identified in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid collected from ARDS patients. All these results suggested that Tr1 cells possessed the capacity to downregulate inflammation in ARDS. In support of this, we found that ARDS patients who resolved the inflammation and survived the syndrome contained significantly higher levels of Tr1 cells than ARDS patients who succumbed to the syndrome. Overall, this report added a novel piece of evidence that ARDS could be intervened by regulatory T cell-mediated suppressive mechanisms.