Production of Proinflammatory Cytokines by Monocytes in Liver-Transplanted Recipients with De Novo Autoimmune Hepatitis Is Enhanced and Induces TH1-like Regulatory T Cells.

ABSTRACT: A subset of human regulatory T cells (Tregs) can secrete IFN-γ or IL-17, and thus share features of TH1 or TH17 effector cells and lose suppressive function. The main factors driving this differentiation of Tregs toward a proinflammatory phenotype include IL-12 for TH1-like and IL-6 for TH17-type Tregs. In this study we show that Tregs of patients with de novo autoimmune hepatitis (dAIH) display increased frequencies of proinflammatory IFN-γ and IL-17 cytokines. Irrespective of a fully demethylated FOXP3 locus, Tregs of subjects with dAIH are functionally impaired. In line with the observed Treg phenotype, we detected the presence of two dominant cytokines (IL-12 and IL-6) clustering with CD68(+) monocyte/macrophage cells in livers of subjects with dAIH, and isolated monocytes of subjects

SUBMITTER: Arterbery AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4874532 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature