Low-dose interleukin-2 as a regulatoy immunetherapy for systemic lupus erythematosus

Accumulating evidence that interleukin-2 (IL-2) is requisite for the maintenance and expansion of regulatory T cells (Treg) has yielded low-dose IL-2 therapy for several autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (1,2). He and colleagues recently reported in Nat Med the efficacy of low-dose IL-2 treatment in 38 active SLE patients (3). They described that IL-2 treatment significantly ameliorated the clinical severity associated with expansion of Treg and decrease of follicular helper T (T_FH) cells and IL-17-producing helper T (T_H17) cells.