For example, Th17-cell priming requirements have elicited disputes, primarily due to inconsistencies between mouse and human cytokine requirements and in particular due to the controversial role of TGF-β in Th17-cell differentiation [65]. Although Th-cell polarization is a multilayered process that is dependent on signal strength and

the engagement of different co-stimulatory molecules following antigen processing, and the establishment of a complex immunological synapse, the focus of interest has been on cytokine requirements. Most of the approaches to dissect Th17 priming conditions have therefore used polyclonal stimulation of naïve Apoptosis inhibitor T cells with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies in the presence of well-defined cytokine combinations in vitro. However, human Th17-cell polarization following antigen-specific stimulation with microbes has recently revealed that priming requirements differ, depending on microbial antigen selleck compound specificity even within the same class of Th cells [12]. Microbial ligands that generate Th17-cell responses through TLR and CLR signaling have primarily, although not exclusively, been defined for C. albicans [66, 67]. Fungal components have been shown to bind to

Dectin1, Dectin2, and Mincle expressed on APCs, which leads to the recruitment of the tyrosine kinase Syk, activation of the adaptor CARD9, and finally to secretion of IL-23, IL-1, IL-6 [66, 67], which are involved in the generation of human Th17 cells. Interestingly, the generation of C. albicans-specific human Th17 cells has been shown to be highly dependent on IL-1β, while S. aureus-specific Th17 cells can be primed in its absence [12]. This not only indicates different pathways for the generation of human Th17 cells but also a strong link between microbial antigen specificities of Th cells with their respective priming requirements.

This has important consequences for the functionality of Th17 cells, since C. albicans-specific, and thus IL-1β-dependent Th17 cells have been shown to co-express IL-17 and IFN-γ but not IL-10, while S. aureus-specific Th17 cells have been shown to be IFN-γ negative but IL-10 positive [12]. IL-1β therefore acts as a molecular switch factor for the generation of pro- versus anti-inflammatory Idoxuridine Th17-cell properties [3, 68]. A model disease to exemplify the two-sided interactions of environment and Th cells is chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, a rare disease characterized by chronic and persistent infection of skin and mucosa with Candida species [69]. Numerous mutations affecting the differentiation and function of Th17 cells have been described for chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis. Namely, humans with loss-of-function mutations in CARD9 and STAT3 or gain-of-function mutations in STAT1 have reduced Th17 cells [70-72]. In other families, IL-17 or its receptor is mutated, or autoantibodies against IL-17 are secreted [73, 74].