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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 9.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2009 Jul 21;9(4):507–513. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2009.06.021

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Extracellular ATP drives the differentiation of lamina propria TH17 lymphocytes. Bacteria hosted in the gut lumen continuously release ATP which moulds the differentiation of mucosal dendritic cells (DCs) which are stimulated to secrete IL-6, IL-23 and TGF-β. These cytokines are needed to allow the establishment of a normal population of IL-17-secreting lymphocytes (TH17) lymphocytes in the lamina propria. However, in response to massive releases of ATP, such as those occurring during uncontrolled bacterial growth or epithelial cell damage, secretion of these cytokines can so large to an unphysiological/pathogenic expansion of TH17 lymphocytes. This may trigger an inappropriate local immune response, which eventually causes inflammatory bowel disease.