Roles of lymphatic endothelial cells expressing peripheral tissue antigens in CD4 T-cell tolerance induction.

Lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) directly express peripheral tissue antigens and induce CD8 T-cell deletional tolerance. LECs express MHC-II molecules, suggesting they might also tolerize CD4 T cells. We demonstrate that when β-galactosidase (β-gal) is expressed in LECs, β-gal-specific CD8 T cells undergo deletion via the PD-1/PD-L1 and LAG-3/MHC-II pathways.