| First Author | Korn T | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 47 | Pages | 18460-5 |
| PubMed ID | 19015529 | Mgi Jnum | J:142217 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3820742 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0809850105 |
| Citation | Korn T, et al. (2008) IL-6 controls Th17 immunity in vivo by inhibiting the conversion of conventional T cells into Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105(47):18460-5 |
| abstractText | The conditions leading to the induction of adaptive Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (T-regs) from peripheral T cells in vivo are incompletely understood. Here, we show that unresponsiveness of T cells to IL-6 by T cell-selective deletion of gp130 or immunization of wild-type mice with antigen in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA), which fails to induce IL-6, promotes the conversion of peripheral CD4(+) T cells into adaptive Foxp3(+) T-regs. Thus, both T cell-conditional gp130 knockout (KO) mice immunized with MOG35-55 in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) and wild-type mice immunized with MOG35-55 in IFA develop overwhelming antigen-specific T-reg responses and are protected from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Depletion of T-regs restores T helper (Th)17 responses and clinical EAE in MOG/CFA-immunized T cell-conditional gp130 KO mice, but not in MOG/IFA-immunized wild-type mice. We conclude that in the absence of T-regs, IL-6 signaling is dispensable for the induction of Th17 cells, and alternative pathways exist to induce Th17 cells and EAE in the absence of IL-6 signaling. However, IL-6 signaling is dominant in inhibiting the conversion of conventional T cells into Foxp3(+) T-regs in vivo, and in the absence of IL-6 signaling, no other cytokine can substitute in inhibiting T-reg conversion. These data identify IL-6 as an important target to modulate autoimmune responses and chronic inflammation. |
