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About the Authors:
Adewole Adamson
Affiliations Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health, Sciences and Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Kamran Ghoreschi
Affiliations Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany
Matthew Rittler
Affiliation: Radiation Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Qian Chen
Affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
Hong-Wei Sun
Affiliation: Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Golnaz Vahedi
Affiliation: Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Yuka Kanno
Affiliation: Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
William G. Stetler-Stevenson
Affiliation: Radiation Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
John J. O’Shea
Affiliation: Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Arian Laurence
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Introduction
Following engagement of the T-cell receptor, naïve CD4+ T cells follow distinct developmental pathways that result in the generation of distinct subsets, which are defined by the cytokines they preferentially express [1]. Differentiated helper T (Th) cells are central players in the adaptive immune response. They facilitate the effective elimination of pathogenic micro-organisms but conversely are also involved in the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases. Classically these cells have been viewed as being in either of two distinct subsets, Th1 or Th2. The former produce IFN-γ and are critical for host defense against intracellular pathogens including viral infections and tuberculosis [2]. Historically,...