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Updated: Mar 22, 2026
Isolation and Th17 Differentiation of Naïve CD4 T Lymphocytes
Published on: September 26, 2013
T cells and IL-17 in lupus nephritis
Tomohiro Koga1, Kunihiro Ichinose1, George C Tsokos2
1Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
Abstract:
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complicated autoimmune disorder characterized by autoantibodies production, immune complex formation, and immune dysregulation, resulting in damage of multiple organs including the kidney. Lupus nephritis (LN) is the most common severe manifestation of SLE involving the majority of patients. Even though there are a number of reports indicating that interleukin-17 (IL-17) and Th17 cells play important roles in the pathogenesis of LN, the precise molecular mechanisms underline the development of LN have not been totally elucidated. In this review, we briefly summarize general characteristics of T and IL-17 cells in SLE. In addition, we discuss in detail T cell signaling pathways which control IL-17 production in patients with LN and in glomerulonephritis in lupus-prone mice. A better understanding of signaling and gene regulation defects in LN will lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of this disease.
