Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Abcb5 Identifies Immunoregulatory Dermal Cells, Tobias Schatton, Jun Yang, Sonja Kleffel, Mayuko Uehara, Steven R. Barthel, Christoph Schlapbach, Qian Zhan, Stephen Dudeney, Hansgeorg Mueller, Nayoung Lee, Juliane C. De Vries, Barbara Meier, Seppe Vander Beken, Mark M. Kluth, Christoph Ganss, Arlene H. Sharpe, Ana Maria Waaga-Gasser, Mohamed H. Sayegh, Reza Abdi, Karin Scharffetter-Kochanek, George F. Murphy, Thomas S. Kupper, Natasha Y. Frank, Markus H. Frank

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Cell-based strategies represent a new frontier in the treatment of immune-mediated disorders. However, the paucity of markers for isolation of molecularly defined immunomodulatory cell populations poses a barrier to this field. Here, we show that ATP-binding cassette member B5 (ABCB5) identifies dermal immunoregulatory cells (DIRCs) capable of exerting therapeutic immunoregulatory functions through engagement of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1). Purified Abcb5+ DIRCs suppressed T cell proliferation, evaded immune rejection, homed to recipient immune tissues, and induced Tregs in vivo. In fully major-histocompatibility-complex-mismatched cardiac allotransplantation models, allogeneic DIRCs significantly prolonged allograft survival. Blockade of DIRC-expressed PD-1 reversed the inhibitory effects of …