Immune regulation by CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells and interleukin‐10 in birch pollen‐allergic patients and non‐allergic controls

Abstract

We demonstrate that the allergen-specific suppressive function of CD4+CD25+ cells from allergic patients is impaired compared with non-allergic controls. Moreover, neutralization of IL-10 enhances the production of TNF-alpha, suggesting counter-acting properties of IL-10 and TNF-alpha, where IL-10 promotes tolerance and suppression by Treg cells and TNF-alpha promotes inflammatory responses.