Robin D. Hatton

TL;DR: Findings provide a basis for understanding how inhibition of IFN-γ signaling enhances development of pathogenic TH-17 effector cells that can exacerbate autoimmunity.

TL;DR: This article identified transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) as a cytokine critical for commitment to Thelper-17 (T(H)17) development, which is required for host protection against a bacterial pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium.

TL;DR: The factors that specify differentiation of a new effector T cell lineage-Th17-have now been identified, providing a new arm of adaptive immunity and presenting a unifying model that can explain many heretofore confusing aspects of immune regulation, immune pathogenesis, and host defense.

TL;DR: Understanding how the adaptive immune system copes with the remarkable number and diversity of microbes that colonize the digestive tract, and how the system integrates with more primitive innate immune mechanisms to maintain immune homeostasis, holds considerable promise for new approaches to modulate immune networks to treat and prevent disease.

TL;DR: It is shown that Batf is required for the differentiation of IL17-producing T helper (TH17) cells, and it is demonstrated that the AP-1 protein BATF has a critical role in TH17 differentiation.