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*Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology and
Department of Experimental Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
Th17 cells are a lineage of CD4+ T cells characterized by IL-17 secretion, which plays a crucial role in immune responses against important respiratory pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, we demonstrated that intranasal (i.n.) immunization leads per se to Th17-biased immune responses, regardless of the adjuvant used. The activated CD4+ T cells also showed an up-regulated expression of the chemokine receptor CCR6, which is a marker for murine Th17 cells. These results have important implications in the context of optimizing rational vaccine design, since i.n. immunization appears to be the strategy of choice for situations where the induction of a Th17 phenotype would be beneficial.
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1 This work was in part supported by a Marie Curie Early Stage Training of the European Communitys Sixth Framework Programme under contract number MEST-2004-504990 and through the European Commission project "PANFLUVAC" (contract No. 044115).
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Beata M. Zygmunt, Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Inhoffenstrasse 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. E-mail address: beata.zygmunt{at}helmholtz-hzi.de
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: i.n., intranasal; cLN, cervical lymph node; DC, dendritic cell; NALT, nasal associated lymphoid tissue; NC, nasal cavity; ODN, oligonucleotide; PerC, peritoneal cavity; Sp, spleen.
4 The online version of this article contains supplemental material.
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