A role for TGF-β in the generation of pathogenic Th17 cells in vivo has been suggested, given that local blockade of TGF-β at the time of immunization halts EAE progression [38]. However, long before the dawn of Th17 cells, TGF-β was lauded for its suppressive capabilities. Amelioration of inflammatory disease

states including EAE and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) were easily achieved after intravenous administration of TGF-β1 [70, 71]. Although it has been shown that Th17 cells can develop in the absence of TGF-β [72], numerous studies have shown a requirement for TGF-β [69, 73-75], Nonetheless, given the autoimmune complications associated with complete Gefitinib TGF-β deficiency, and the fact that TGF-β is produced by every

cell in the body, there are no circumstances in which Th17 cells could arise in vivo in the complete absence of TGF-β. Therefore, the exact role of TGF-β is of importance, be that by providing a positive differentiation signal, or by suppressing other transcription factors such as T-bet and GATA-3, which would direct an activated T cell away from the Th17 lineage. McGeachy et al. [70] convincingly demonstrated that Th17 cells can have different pathogenic capabilities depending on their route to IL-17 production. PLP-primed T cells were only encephalitogenic when exposed to IL-23 prior to transfer, whereas T cells polarized in the presence of TGF-β and IL-6 failed to induce disease when transferred directly into the cerebral ventricular space [73]. This approach also circumvented Selleck LY2157299 the potentially different migratory capabilities of polarized Th17 subsets by direct administration of the cells through the blood brain barrier [76]. Thus, despite IL-17A expression in both subsets, only T cells primed in the presence cAMP of IL-23 were “licensed to kill”. Why should IL-17A-expressing cells be so different in their capacity to induce disease? One answer could be that IL-17A is simply a “read-out” for T-cell activation in some circumstances, and the true culprit(s) behind Th17-associated pathogenesis are induced simultaneously with IL-17A by IL-23, but not by TGF-β and IL-6. A keen observation was made in the study by McGeachy

et al. [73] that a minority of the Th17 cells induced by TGF-β and IL-6 simultaneously expressed IL-10, and this was proposed to explain the lack of pathology observed after passive transfer of these cells [73]. IL-10 production may also explain why others have witnessed a reduced pathogenicity of Th17 cells induced by TGF-β and IL-6 [77]. Although IL-10 might indeed contribute to the reduced pathogenic potential of Th17 cells generated in this way, it is perhaps more likely that IL-23 induces another pathogenic cytokine and/or population of activated T cells. We and others were able to show that GM-CSF is in fact induced by IL-23, and that this cytokine is an absolute requirement for the encephalitogenicity of a T cell [78, 79].