[124] Myeloid cells have also been shown to regulate susceptibility to EAE following activation of type I NKT cells by αGalCer.[134] Hence, depletion of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells from the spleen results in the loss of αGalCer-induced protection from EAE.
These reports suggest that activation of NKT cell subsets Roscovitine clinical trial in different tissues may not only lead to their interaction with professional APCs but also with other immune regulatory cells, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells and Treg cells, and that they can cooperate to provide protection from autoimmune pathology. In this review, we have attempted to identify key outstanding issues related to the role of NKT cell subsets in health and disease, and how some of these issues may be addressed experimentally and clinically. Based on current evidence, we have proposed a hypothesis that states that while type I NKT cells have pathogenic and protective roles in autoimmune disease susceptibility, type II NKT cells possess mainly a protective role. We have discussed how new experimental mouse models coupled with the application of novel techniques, namely intravital cellular imaging in vivo and mass cytometry, may test this hypothesis and also
provide important insights into the role of NKT–DC interactions and cytokine/chemokine secretion profiles in determining the outcome of health versus disease. As the CD1d-dependent
antigen recognition pathway is highly conserved from mice to humans, several key features of NKT cell Small molecule library manufacturer subsets are shared between them. Although most studies in mice have analysed NKT cells from the thymus, spleen or liver, the systemic results of their manipulation indicate that follow-up clinical studies are warranted. Therefore, discoveries in experimental models can be translated into the clinical setting,[1, 128] and allow the application of murine studies to humans. Fortunately, type II NKT cells occur more frequently than type I NKT cells Decitabine in humans, which facilitates their further characterization using appropriate lipid ligands. A detailed characterization of type II NKT cells and their ligands in humans is important for their appropriate manipulation in disease conditions. Phase I/II clinical trials of the anti-tumour effects of human type I NKT cells stimulated by αGalCer have yielded promising results.[129, 130, 71, 131] Other analogues of αGalCer that skew conventional CD4+ T-cell responses towards either a Th1- or a Th2-like profile remain to be tested in similar trials. In the near future, it may be possible to differentially activate or inhibit type I and type II NKT cells for the development of novel immunotherapeutic protocols in the treatment and prevention of autoimmune disease.