Gene expression profiles of CD4SP Foxp3GFP-CD25+ Treg precursors and Foxp3GFP-CD25- thymocytes

We investigated at which stage of maturation commitment to a stable Foxp3-expressing phenotype takes place. We assessed stability of Foxp3 expression in thymic Foxp3+ Treg subsets of different maturity, defined by CD24 expression. Next we compared gene expression profiles of Foxp3+ Treg subsets (+) of different maturity (24lo, 24int, 24hi) and could identify a set of genes that were specifically up or downregulated in Foxp3+ Tregs, but not in Foxp3- conventional T cells, in a maturation-dependent manner.

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Toker A, Engelbert D, Garg G, Polansky JK, Floess S, Miyao T, Baron U, Düber S, Geffers R, Giehr P, Schallenberg S, Kretschmer K, Olek S, Walter J, Weiss S, Hori S, Hamann A, Huehn J