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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Isolation and Th17 Differentiation of Naïve CD4 T Lymphocytes
Published on: September 26, 2013
Thymic self-reactivity selects natural interleukin 17-producing T cells that can regulate peripheral inflammation
Benjamin R Marks1, Heba N Nowyhed, Jin-Young Choi
1Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
None:
Interleukin 17 (IL-17)-producing CD4(+) helper T cells (T(H)-17 cells) share a developmental relationship with Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (T(reg) cells). Here we show that a T(H)-17 population differentiates in the thymus in a manner influenced by recognition of self antigen and by the cytokines IL-6 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Like previously described T(H)-17 cells, the T(H)-17 cells that developed in the thymus expressed the transcription factor RORgamma t and the IL-23 receptor. These cells also expressed alpha(4)beta(1) integrins and the chemokine receptor CCR6 and were recruited to the lung, gut and liver. In the liver, these cells secreted IL-22 in response to self antigen and mediated host protection during inflammation. Thus, T(H)-17 cells, like T(reg) cells, can be selected by self antigens in the thymus.
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