The Role of TH17-Associated Cytokines in Health and Disease

摘要

The intriguing subset of effector CD4+ T cells termed T_(H)17 cells are now widely appreciated for their role in coordinating immune and inflammatory responses. The dynamic nature of the T_(H)17 cell subset allows for the adoption of inflammatory or regulatory functions as needed, in a microenvironment-dependent fashion. The ontogeny, tissue residence, migratory properties, and biological functions of these cells are areas of intense research focus given the broad spectrum of human disorders associated with aberrant T_(H)17-type responses.While T_(H)17 cells are so named for their characteristic Interleukin 17 (IL-17) production, bona fide T_(H)17 cells of human or murine origin produce, at times, a cacophony of inflammatory mediators, which can include IL-17, IL-21, IL-22, and IL-26. As such, dissecting the biological consequences of robust T_(H)17 responses, properly or improperly controlled, has presented a number of challenges. Further confounding the study of T_(H)17 cells and individual cytokines are the many observations documenting non- T_(H)17 cell sources of these same cytokines. Given the complexity of T_(H)17 biology, we welcome the reports found within this issue, highlighting current findings and observations and illuminating several components of T_(H)17 cells and known associated cytokines.