ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2009) — Immune cells that secrete the soluble molecule IL-17 (so called Th17 cells) have been implicated as central to several autoimmune diseases.

However, whether they contribute to the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes, which is commonly linked to immune cells that secrete the soluble molecule IFN-gamma (so called Th1 cells), has not been clearly determined.

While investigating this in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes, Anne Cooke and colleagues, at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, found that highly purified Th17 cells could cause diabetes in NOD/SCID mice, but that they converted to IFN-gamma secreting cells to do this, indicating that Th17 cells show substantial plasticity.

The research appears online, Feb. 2nd, 2009, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Journal Reference:

1. David Bending, Hugo De La Peña, Marc Veldhoen, Jenny M. Phillips, Catherine Uyttenhove, Brigitta Stockinger, Anne Cooke. Highly purified Th17 cells from BDC2.5NOD mice convert into Th1-like cells in NOD/SCID recipient mice. J. Clin. Invest., 2009; DOI: 10.1172/JCI37865

Related Stories

Search ScienceDaily

Insulin Independence