Regulatory T cells (Treg) are important inhibitory immune cells to establish immune tolerance, which play a pivotal role in regulating excessive immune response and autoimmune diseases of the host. Previous studies related to transplant immune tolerance have confirmed that increasing the number of Treg in vivo or enhancing the function of Treg serve as a therapeutic strategy to induce transplant immune tolerance. At present, Treg-based induction methods for transplant immune tolerance include adoptive infusion of Treg, in vivo amplification of Treg and utilization of antigen-specific Treg. In this article, the characteristics and mechanism of Treg, the latest research progress on basic experiments and clinical practice of Treg related to transplant immune tolerance at home and abroad were reviewed, and future challenges and development of Treg therapy were prospected, aiming to unravel the significance and application prospect of Treg in transplant immune tolerance, explore the advantages and limitations of Treg therapeutic strategies, and provide reference and evidence for subsequent research in this field.

The risk of graft loss is relatively high in early stages after pancreatic transplantation so that some patients are placed back on a waiting list for pancreatic transplantation. This review summarized the experiences of two recipients of pancreatic re-transplantation after simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation. Both patients could successfully discontinue insulin dosing, blood sugar levels were maintained at a normal level and function of kidney graft improved obviously as compared to pre-transplant levels.