Please see the following:

Role of LAG-3 in Regulatory T Cells

Ching-Tai Huang1, 2, 4, Creg J. Workman3, 4, Dallas Flies1, Xiaoyu Pan1, Aimee L. Marson1, Gang Zhou1, Edward L. Hipkiss1, Sowmya Ravi1, Jeanne Kowalski1, Hyam I. Levitsky1, Jonathan D. Powell1, Drew M. Pardoll1, Charles G. Drake, 1, , Dario A.A. Vignali, 3,

Immunology 2004

Abstract

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) limit autoimmunity but also attenuate the magnitude of antipathogen and antitumor immunity. Understanding the mechanism of Treg function and therapeutic manipulation of Tregs in vivo requires identification of Treg-selective receptors. A comparative analysis of gene expression arrays from antigen-specific CD4+ T cells differentiating to either an effector/memory or a regulatory phenotype revealed Treg-selective expression of LAG-3, a CD4-related molecule that binds MHC class II. Antibodies to LAG-3 inhibit suppression by induced Tregs both in vitro and in vivo. Natural CD4+CD25+ Tregs express LAG-3 upon activation, which is significantly enhanced in the presence of effector cells, whereas CD4+CD25+ Tregs from LAG-3−/− mice exhibit reduced regulatory activity. Lastly, ectopic expression of LAG-3 on CD4+ T cells significantly reduces their proliferative capacity and confers on them suppressor activity toward effector T cells. We propose that LAG-3 marks regulatory T cell populations and contributes to their suppressor activity.

Nature Immunology 4, 1191 - 1198 (2003)

Selective expression of the interleukin 7 receptor identifies effector CD8 T cells that give rise to long-lived memory cells

Susan M Kaech1, Joyce T Tan2, E John Wherry1, Bogumila T Konieczny1, Charles D Surh2 & Rafi Ahmed1

1 Emory Vaccine Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.

2 Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.

Correspondence should be addressed to Rafi Ahmed [email protected]

A major unanswered question is what distinguishes the majority of activated CD8 T cells that die after an acute viral infection from the small fraction (5−10%) that survive to become long-lived memory cells. In this study we show that increased expression of the interleukin 7 receptor alpha-chain (IL-7Ralpha) identifies the effector CD8 T cells that will differentiate into memory cells. IL-7Rhi effector cells contained increased amounts of antiapoptotic molecules, and adoptive transfer of IL-7Rhi and IL-7Rlo effector cells showed that IL-7Rhi cells preferentially gave rise to memory cells that could persist and confer protective immunity. Thus, selective expression of IL-7R identifies memory cell precursors, and this marker may be useful in predicting the number of memory T cells generated after infection or immunization.

Blood 1996

Activation of naive and memory T cells by interleukin-15

H Kanegane and G Tosato

Abstract

Interleukin-15 (IL-15), a product of monocytes and other cells, has biological activities similar to those of IL-2, including growth stimulation of activated T cells, induction of cytolytic effector cells, and B-cell costimulation for proliferation and lg production. We report that IL-15 at optimal concentrations rapidly induced memory (CD45RO+) CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and naive (CD45RO-) CD8+ T cells to express the CD69 activation marker followed by proliferation. By contrast, IL-15 failed to induce naive (CD45RO-) CD4+ T cells to express CD69 or to proliferate. Similar findings were obtained with IL- 2. Unlike the other T-cell subsets, CD4+ T cells with a naive phenotype expressed little or no IL-2R beta chain, a shared component of the IL-2 and IL-15 receptors required for receptor function. A monoclonal antibody to the IL-2R beta chain, Mik beta 1, reduced CD69 expression and proliferation in CD4+ memory, CD8+ memory, and CD8+ naive T cells activated by IL-15. These results confirm the biological similarities of IL-2 and IL-15. They further document that the pool of naive CD4+ cells, unlike the pool of memory CD4+, memory CD8+, and naive CD8+ cells, is not regulated directly by the T-cell growth factors IL-2 or IL-15.

Thank your but How to differentiate between the two groups ; Induced and thymus derived regulatory T cells?

Hi Omer, 

The IC marker HELIOS would be the most conventional way to identify nTreg and this has recently been shown to enhanced by the addition of Nrp1. This has been reviewed by Lin et al.