Barreto, M.Ferreira, RC.Lourenço, L.Moraes-Fontes, MF.Santos, E.Alves, M.Carvalho, C.Martins, B.Andreia, R.Viana, JF.Vasconcelos, C.Mota-Vieira, L.Ferreira, C.Demengeot, J.Vicente, AM.2010-08-112010-08-112007-01-27Barreto, M., Ferreira, R.C., Lourenco, L., Moraes-Fontes, M.F.,Santos, E., Alves, M.,Carvalho, C., Martins, B., Andreia, R., Viana, J. F., Vasconcelos, C., Mota-Vieira, L., Ferreira, C., Demengeot, J., Vicente, A.M. (2009). “Low frequency of CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg in SLE patients: a heritable trait associated with CTLA4 and TGF gene variants”. BMC Immunology. 10: 1 -141471-2172http://hdl.handle.net/10400.7/160Background: CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells play an essential role in maintaining immune homeostasis and preventing autoimmunity. Therefore, defects in Treg development, maintenance or function have been associated with several human autoimmune diseases including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by loss of tolerance to nuclear components and significantly more frequent in females.engREGULATORY T-CELLSSYSTEMIC-LUPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUSIMMUNOLOGICAL SELF-TOLERANCEIN-VIVO EXPANSIONAUTOANTIBODY PRODUCTIONMULTIPLE-SCLEROSISjournal article