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Nature Immunology 8, 950–957 (1 September 2007) | doi:10.1038/ni1497

Development, cytokine profile and function of human interleukin 17|[ndash]|producing helper T cells

Nicholas J Wilson , Katia Boniface , Jason R Chan , Brent S McKenzie , Wendy M Blumenschein , Jeanine D Mattson , Beth Basham , Kathleen Smith , Taiying Chen , Franck Morel , Jean-Claude Lecron , Robert A Kastelein , Daniel J Cua , Terrill K McClanahan , Edward P Bowman & Rene de Waal Malefyt

TH-17 cells are a distinct lineage of proinflammatory T helper cells that are essential for autoimmune disease. In mice, commitment to the TH-17 lineage is dependent on transforming growth factor-β and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Here we demonstrate that IL-23 and IL-1β induced the development of human TH-17 cells expressing IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-22, IL-26, interferon-γ, the chemokine CCL20 and transcription factor RORγt. In situ, TH-17 cells were identified by expression of the IL-23 receptor and the memory T cell marker CD45RO. Psoriatic skin lesions contained IL-23-producing dendritic cells and were enriched in the cytokines produced by human TH-17 cells that promote the production of antimicrobial peptides in human keratinocytes. Our data collectively indicate that human and mouse TH-17 cells require distinct factors during differentiation and that human TH-17 cells may regulate innate immunity in epithelial cells.