CsA inhibits IL-22 production by memory CD4+ T cells from patients with psoriasis

Abstract

IL-22 is involved in psoriasis and exacerbates disease progression. Cyclosporine A (CsA) is an immunosuppressant drug that has been used in the treatment of psoriasis for more than 20 years. We determined IL-22 producing T cells and their phenotype, and demonstrated that IL-22 is mainly produced by CD4 + memory T cells not CD8 + T cells in peripheral blood from healthy adults. We compared Th17 and Th1 with the percentages of IL-22 producing CD4 + T cells, and demonstrated that Th1 is the majority Th subset in the blood, as the percentage of Th1 cells is significantly larger than the percentage of IL-22 producing CD4 + T cells or Th17 cells. We analyzed the correlation of IL-22, IL-17 and IFN-γ produced by CD4 + T cells from healthy adults, and confirmed that there is a subset of Th22 cells that does not produce IL-17 or IFN-γ. Furthermore, we observed that the percentage of IL-22 producing CD4 + T cells is elevated in psoriasis compared to healthy donors, and that the majority of these cells are memory CD4 + T cells. We also investigated the inhibitory effects of CsA on IL-22 production by CD4 + T cells from both healthy donors and patients with psoriasis. We observed that CsA inhibits the production of IL-22 by CD4 + T cells from healthy donors in a dose-dependent manner, and that it inhibits IL-22, IFN-γ and IL-17 production by CD4 + T cells in psoriasis. The obtained results provide critical information regarding the clinical efficacies of CsA in the treatment of psoriasis.

Existence of Th22 in children and evaluation of IL-22 + CD4 + T, Th17, and other T cell effector subsets from healthy children compared to adults

“…Moreover, we found that Th22 subset existed in blood of healthy young children. The above results we observed in children are similar to adults [ 16 , 17 ]. However, we found that the percentages of IL-22 + CD4 + T cells were significantly lower in children than adults.…”