The role of regulatory T cells in control of food allergy

The healthy response to foods in early life is oral tolerance, which in mice has been shown to be an active immune response mediated by Tregs. In mice, adjuvants that suppress the activity of Tregs can promote development of food allergy, and allergic mice and humans have Tregs with a less suppressive phenotype. Food allergy in mice can be suppressed by transfer of healthy Tregs, indicating the potential for Tregs in the development of food allergy therapeutics. Tregs have been shown to play a key role in immunotherapy-induced tolerance in mice, but in humans the data are inconclusive. In this article, we discuss the evidence for a role for Tregs in prevention and treatment of food allergy.