We and others further demonstrated that several of the major cytokine players expressed by Th17 cells, such as IL-17A and IL-17F 48, IL-22 49 and IL-21 50, are not essential for EAE induction. Together this hints to a role of IL-23 independent from Th17 cell differentiation 51. It is evident that formally sought

GPCR Compound Library “terminally-differentiated” cell types can keep a certain “stemness” or pluripotency. Recently, fibroblasts were demonstrated to dedifferentiate under appropriate manipulations 52 and to regain induced pluripotent stem cell potency (iPS cells). The expression of only four transcription factors was sufficient to induce this cell fate change. We propose that flexibility in differentiation and trans-differentiation of distinct T helper lineages is necessary to cope with the multiple and

differential demands the immune system encounters during its combat against a multitude of infectious agents 53. Generation of IL-17F-CreEYFP mice is described 26. ROSA26-EYFP mice were previously published 27. 2D2 mice have been described 28. All strains used were backcrossed to the C57BL/6 background. this website All animal experiments performed were in accordance with our license of the government agency for animal welfare of Rheinand-Pfalz (Mainz, Germany). All animal procedures used were in accordance with guidelines of the committee on animals of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology and with the license of the Regierung von Oberbayern (Munich, Germany). To induce Th17 cells in IL-17F-CreEYFP reporter mice, mice were immunized s.c. with 100 μL CFA, containing 1.1 mg of heat killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 50 μg of MOG35–55 peptide. CD4+ cells were recovered from draining LN and spleen and CD4+ cells were enriched by MACS beads (Miltenyi Biotech, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) and thereafter sorted for EYFP expression. T cells were differentiated to either Th1 cells or Th17 cells in RPMI medium containing 10% FCS, 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 units/mL penicillin, 100 μg/mL streptomycin, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 50 μM 2-mercaptoethanol, 10 mM HEPES and 1% non-essential amino

acids (MEM). 2D2 cells were stimulated during differentiation either using MOG35–55 Methane monooxygenase peptide (20 μg/mL) for 9 days with two stimulations (d0 and d5) or with anti-CD3 (1 μg/mL)/CD28 (6 ng/mL) for 5 days. Polarization for Th1 cells was performed using IL-12 (20 ng/mL) and IL-18 (20 ng/mL) and IL-2 (10 ng/mL). Th17 cells were differentiated using rh-TGFβ1 (2 ng/mL) IL-6 (20 ng/mL), IL-23 (20 ng/mL) and anti-IFN-γ (10 μg/mL). For sorting of Th17 cells, cells were stained and thereafter sorted for CD4+ and EYFP expression. Naïve CD4+ T cells were purified by MACS-sorting using the naïve CD4+ T-cell purification kit from Miltenyi Biotech. Transfer EAE was induced by i.v. transfer of the indicated number of cells and i.p. injection of 200 ng of pertussis toxin (Sigma-Aldrich) at days 0 and day 2.