AUTHOR=Li Lingqian , Huang Lei , Lemos Henrique , Mautino Mario , Mellor Andrew L.

TITLE=Altered Tryptophan Metabolism as a Paradigm for Good and Bad Aspects of Immune Privilege in Chronic Inflammatory Diseases

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2012

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00109

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2012.00109

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p>The term “immune privilege” was coined to describe weak immunogenicity (hypo-immunity) that manifests in some transplant settings. We extended this concept to encompass hypo-immunity that manifests at local sites of inflammation relevant to clinical diseases. Here, we focus on emerging evidence that enhanced tryptophan catabolism is a key metabolic process that promotes and sustains induced immune privilege, and discuss the implications for exploiting this knowledge to improve treatments for hypo-immune and hyper-immune syndromes using strategies to manipulate tryptophan metabolism.</p>