IL-17 Family Cytokines and the Expanding Diversity of Effector T Cell Lineages

Since its conception two decades ago, the Th1-Th2 paradigm has provided a framework for understanding T cell biology and the interplay of innate and adaptive immunity. Naive T cells differentiate into effector T cells with enhanced functional potential for orchestrating pathogen clearance largely under the guidance of cytokines produced by cells of the innate immune system that have been activated by recognition of those pathogens. This secondary education of post-thymic T cells provides a mechanism for appropriately matching adaptive immunity to frontline cues of the innate immune system. Owing in part to the rapid identification of novel cytokines of the IL-17 and IL-12 families using database searches, the…