Regulatory T cells primarily function to?

• A. Moderate immune response
• B. Promote inflammation
• C. Produce antibodies
• D. Phagocytose pathogens

Answer: (A)

Regulatory T cells are specialized cells that keep the immune system from overreacting. Their main job is to dampen or moderate immune responses, helping to maintain self-tolerance and prevent tissue damage from excessive inflammation. They do this by inhibiting the activation and proliferation of other T cells, reducing cytokine production, and modulating antigen-presenting cells. Mechanisms include releasing inhibitory cytokines like IL-10 and TGF-β and expressing molecules such as CTLA-4 to downregulate immune activity. Because of these regulatory actions, they don’t promote inflammation, don’t produce antibodies, and don’t phagocytose pathogens—the roles of promoting inflammatory responses (by other T cells), antibody-producing B cells, and phagocytes lie with different immune cells.