GARP: a surface molecule of regulatory T cells that is involved in the regulatory function and TGF-β releasing

// Liping Sun 1,3,4,* , Hao Jin 1,3,4,* and Hui Li 2,3,4 1 Department of Immunology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China 2 Department of Gastrointestinal Cancer Biology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China 3 Key Laboratory of Cancer Immunology and Biotherapy, Tianjin, China 4 National Clinical Research Center of Cancer, Tianjin, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Hui Li, email: // Keywords : regulatory T cells, glycoprotein A repetitions predominant, transforming growth factor β Received : January 24, 2016 Accepted : April 04, 2016 Published : April 15, 2016 Abstract There are many molecules that define regulatory T cells (Tregs) phenotypically and functionally. Glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP) is a transmembrane protein containing leucine rich repeats. Recently, GARP is found to express highly on the surface of activated Tregs. The combination of GARP and other surface molecules isolates Tregs with higher purity. Besides, GARP is a cell surface molecule of Tregs that maintains their regulatory function and homeosatsis. GARP has also been proved to promote the activation and secretion of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β). Moreover, its potential value in cancer immunotherapy is also discussed in this work.