Effects of interleukin-17A on colonization and infection of respiratory tract bacteria / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Interleukin-17A (IL-17A) is one of the proinflammatory cytokines produced by a subset of CD4+T cells named Th17 cells. It plays a crucial role in both host innate and adaptive immune responses against colonization and infection of respiratory tract bacteria. Studies in animal models have demonstrated that IL-17A can induce the expressions of various chemokines, inflammatory factors and adhesion molecules via multiple intracellular signaling pathways and recruit neutrophils to infection sites. Moreover, recent stud-ies have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-17A coding gene can regulate the produc-tion of IL-17A in serum, resulting in individual difference in colonization rate by Streptococcus pneumoniae. This review presents recent data related to the structure, functions and signaling pathways of IL-17A, sum-marizes its roles in host defense based on studies in animal models and discusses the effects of genetic varia-tion of IL-17A on colonization, susceptibility, clinical characteristics and disease prognosis of human respira-tory tract bacteria.