Figure 4. Divergence of Transcriptomes of Th17 Progeny Restimulated under Different Cytokine Conditions.

FACS-sorted naive CD4⁺ T cells from Il17f^{Thy1.1/Thy1.1} mice were cultured with irradiated Il12b^−/− splenic feeder cells under Th17-polarizing conditions for 6 days. Cells were collected and Thy1.1⁺ (IL-17F⁺) cells were isolated by magnetic sorting as in Figure 3. Isolated Thy1.1⁺ cells were restimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 in the presence of indicated cytokine(s) and processed for mRNA quantification of the indicated genes at 6 hr (Fasl and Gzma) or 18 hr after stimulation by real-time PCR. All data were normalized to 18S RNA and are expressed as fold differences (log₂) relative to anti-CD3- and anti-CD28-stimulated cells. Data are representative of two or three experiments.