FIGURE 3.

The context‐dependent effect of high salt on Th17 cells. (A) In the presence of Th17‐polarizing cytokines, high salt boosts the induction of pathogenic murine and human Th17 cells. These responses are related to p38/MAPK, NFAT5 and SGK1 activation. (B) In the absence of Th17‐polarizing cytokines, high salt induces anti‐inflammatory human Th17 cells by a significant upregulation of FoxP3 and the autocrine of TGF‐β. However, additional pro‐inflammatory cytokines can block TGF‐β secretion, and therefore, human Th17 cells exhibit a pro‐inflammatory phenotype. Similarly, high salt shows context‐dependent effect on the pathogenicity of murine Th17 cells, but the autocrine TGF‐β production was below the detection level.