Vitamin A Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin A, including details on retinol, benefits, dosage, supplements, deficiency, information.

Reciprocal TH17 and regulatory T cell differentiation mediated by retinoic acid.

Mucida D, Park Y, Kim G, Turovskaya O, Scott I, Kronenberg M, Cheroutre H

La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 9420 Athena Circle, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

The cytokine transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) converts naïve T cells into regulatory T (Treg) cells that prevent autoimmunity. However, in the presence of interleukin-6 (IL-6), TGF-beta has also been found to promote the differentiation of naïve T lymphocytes into proinflammatory IL-17 cytokine-producing T helper 17 (T(H)17) cells, which promote autoimmunity and inflammation. This raises the question of how TGF-beta can generate such distinct outcomes. We identified the vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid as a key regulator of TGF-beta-dependent immune responses, capable of inhibiting the IL-6-driven induction of proinflammatory T(H)17 cells and promoting anti-inflammatory Treg cell differentiation. These findings indicate that a common metabolite can regulate the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory immunity.

Published 13 July 2007 in Science, 317(5835): 256-60.
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