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Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Isolation and Th17 Differentiation of Naïve CD4 T Lymphocytes
Published on: September 26, 2013
Interleukin-17 acts as double-edged sword in anti-tumor immunity and tumorigenesis
Xin Qian1, Hankui Chen2, Xiaofeng Wu1
1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, No. 32, South Renmin Road, Shiyan 44200, Hubei Province, China.
Abstract:
Interleukin-17 (IL-17), a proinflammatory cytokine, mainly produced by Th17 cells, participates in both innate and adaptive immune responses and is involved in various diseases, including infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and cancer. Emerging evidence indicates that IL-17 not only has an oncogenic role in tumorigenesis by regulating tumor angiogenesis and enhancing tumor immune evasion but also exerts anti-tumor functions by enhancing natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) activation and through the recruitment of neutrophils, NK cells and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to tumor tissue. In this review, we provide an overview on the basic biology of IL-17 and recent findings regarding its enigmatic double-edged features in tumorigenesis, with special attention to the roles of IL-17 produced by tumor cells interacting with other factors in the tumor microenvironment.
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