Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Immunity. 2015 Oct 20;43(4):629–631. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2015.09.014

Figure 1. Gut Fatty Acids Drive Intestinal T Cell Differentiation that Influences Development of Autoimmunity in other Distal Tissues.

Figure 1

Naive CD4+ T cells that originate in the bone marrow and thymus migrate to the lamina propria of the gut, where they differentiate into various T helper subtypes under the influence of fatty acids derived from the diet or bacteria. In the presence of MCFAs or LCFAs, T cell differentiation is skewed toward inflammatory subtypes (Th1 and Th17), whereas in the presence of SCFAs, differentiation is skewed toward regulatory subtypes (Treg cells). These fatty-acid-influenced T cells drive pathogenic or protective responses in other tissues such as the central nervous system and modulate autoimmunity. Abbreviations are as follows: MCFAs, medium-chain fatty acids; LCFAs, long-chain fatty acids; SCFAs, short-chain fatty acids.