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Understanding the Regulatory Roles of Natural Killer T Cells in Rheumatoid Arthritis: T Helper Cell Differentiation Dependent or Independent?
Author(s) -
Chen J.,
Yang J.,
Qiao Y.,
Li X.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/sji.12460
Subject(s) - natural killer t cell , immunology , rheumatoid arthritis , biology , autoimmune disease , interleukin 17 , cellular differentiation , arthritis , interleukin 12 , interleukin 21 , t cell , microbiology and biotechnology , in vitro , cytokine , cytotoxic t cell , immune system , antibody , gene , genetics
Rheumatoid arthritis ( RA ) is the most common chronic systemic autoimmune disease. This disease is thought to be caused by pathogenic T cells. Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of RA . These Th cells differentiate from CD 4+ T cells primarily due to the effects of cytokines. Natural killer T ( NKT ) cells are a distinct subset of lymphocytes that can rapidly secrete massive amount of cytokines, including IL ‐2, IL ‐4, IL ‐12 and IFN ‐ γ . Numerous studies showed that NKT cells can influence the differentiation of CD 4+ T cells via cytokines in vitro . These findings suggest that NKT cells play an important role in RA by polarizing Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells. In view of the complexity of RA , we discussed whether NKT cells really influence the development of RA through regulating the differentiation of Th cells.