Correction: Inhibition of the Transcription Factor Foxp3 Converts Desmoglein 3-Specific Type 1 Regulatory T Cells into Th2-Like Cells

Veldman, C., A. Pahl, S. Beissert, W. Hansen, J. Buer, D. Dieckmann, G. Schuler, and M. Hertl. 2006. Inhibition of the transcription factor Foxp3 converts desmoglein 3-specific type 1 regulatory T cells into Th2-like cells. J. Immunol. 176: 3215–3222.

In Fig. 3, our group recently discovered that the FACS data for SCR2 at 0.4 μM were incorrectly labeled as 0.2 μM, and that the data for SCR2 at 0.4 μM were generated in an unrelated experiment and incorrectly inserted by the first author of the study. In addition, the first author used inadequate isotype controls for glucocorticoid-induced TNFR family-related receptor (GITR) (polyclonal IgG) that were identical to the isotype controls for CD4 (mIgG1). Even though we have shown in an independent experiment that desmoglein (Dsg)3-reactive Tr1 cells express GITR and that treatment with Foxp3 AS2 but not Foxp3 SCR2 leads to downregulation of GITR expression by Tr1 cells, we prefer to omit Fig. 3 based on the described inaccuracies. The overall message of the study, namely the observation that Tr1 cells treated with Foxp3 AS2 lose their suppressor function, gain a proliferative phenotype, and start to secrete the T cell growth factor, IL-2, is not affected by the errors of Fig. 3. Moreover, we have not directly linked expression of GITR or CTLA-4 to the suppressor function of the Tr1 cells. Neither have we found convincing evidence that the secretion of IL-10 and TGF-β by the Tr1 cells exclusively mediates their suppressor function since IL-10 and TGF-β secretion was also not altered by Foxp3 AS2 treatment. Because the ability of the Tr1 cells to produce IL-2 was directly linked to the loss of suppressor function, we speculate that the Dsg3-reactive Tr1 cells suppress T cell responses by the consumption of exogenous IL-2. The major finding of the study (i.e., that antisense-mediated loss of Foxp3 is directly associated with the loss of suppressor function) has been confirmed by a recent, independent study (Hansmann et al. 2012. J. Immunol. 188: 1275–1282) showing that downregulation of Foxp3 in Treg cells leads to Th2 differentiation. In Figs. 4 and 6, proliferative T cell responses are expressed as mean cpm [³H]TdR ± SD. The authors apologize to the scientific community for any inconvenience these errors may have caused.