on May 17, 2007
Federica Sallusto and Giorgio Napolitani
Surface phenotype and antigenic specificity of human interleukin 17–producing T helper memory cells
Nature Immunology May 2007
Yeast infection can stimulate the development of a unique type of human immune cell,according a study to be published in the June issue of Nature Immunology. Complementing earlier work published on mouse T lymphocytes in Nature Immunology (DOI:10.1038/ ni1460, 22 April 2007), Federica Sallusto, Giorgio Napolitani and colleagues studied immune responses of human T lymphocytes to the yeast Candida albicans — a ubiquitous pathogen that can cause life-threatening infections in immuno compromised individuals.The team reports that Candida albicans stimulates the development of T lymphocytes specialized in producing interleukin 17, an immunomodulatory protein associated with both harmful autoimmunity and helpful immune responses to certain bacteria.
Notably, this new study provides the first characterization of human interleukin 17producing T lymphocytes.The study broadens our understanding of the ways that T lymphocytes in humans can respond to pathogens, providing a key piece of the puzzle about T lymphocytes speciali-zed in producing interleukin 17, which likely play important roles in many immune responses.
