Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Aug 12.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Immunol. 2011 Aug 12;23(3):202–208. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2011.07.005

Figure 1. Molecular mechanisms governing the induction of IL-27-induced Tr1 cells.

Figure 1

Three different pathways are induced by IL-27 during Tr1 cell differentiation. IL-27 drives the expression of the transcription factors c-Maf and AhR, which bind together to transactivate the Il21 and Il10 promoters. IL-21 maintains Maf and AhR expression, while IL-10 is essential for the suppressive function of Tr1 cells (Upper panel). IL-27-induced AhR, alone or with an unknown cofactor, promotes Granzyme-B expression that mediates the contact-dependent suppressive activity of Tr1 cells (middle panel). Finally IL-27 promotes T-bet expression that results in IFN-γ secretion. IFN-γ then acts on DCs to enhance IL-27 expression and further supports Tr1 cell differentiation (lower panel).