Fig. 4: Adoptive Treg cell therapy-induced Th17 cell generation requires IL-6 and TGF-β signaling in vivo.

A–D Rag1^-/- mice were injected with CD45.2⁺CD4⁺CD25^-CD45RB^hi T cells isolated from Il6ra^+/+ or Il6ra^-/- mice, with or without CD45.1⁺CD4⁺CD25⁺ Tregs from CD45.1 mice. The experiment was ended 5-6 weeks post T cell transfer, before the mice started losing weight (n = 3 mice per group). A–C Representative flow cytometry plots and bar graphs showing frequencies of CD45.2⁺CD4⁺IL-17⁺ Th17 cells (A, B), and CD45.2⁺ CD4⁺RORγt⁺ T cells (C) in spleen, MLN and colon tissues of indicated mice. D Total immune cell numbers in the spleen, MLN and colon tissues of the indicated mice. E–H Rag1^-/- mice were injected with CD45.2⁺CD4⁺CD25^-CD45RB^hi T cells isolated from Tgfbr1^f/f ER-Cre⁺ mice treated with tamoxifen (Tgfbr1^-/-) or oil (Tgfbr1^+/+), with or without CD45.1⁺CD4⁺CD25⁺ Tregs from CD45.1 mice. The experiment was ended 5-6 weeks post T cell transfer, before the mice started to lose weight (n = 4 mice per group). E–G Representative flow cytometry plots and bar graphs showing frequencies of CD45.2⁺CD4⁺IL-17⁺ Th17 cells (E, F), and CD45.2⁺CD4⁺RORγt⁺ T cells (G) in spleen, MLN and colon tissues of indicated mice. H Total Immune cell numbers in the spleen, MLN and colon tissues of indicated mice. Data are representative of two independent experiments. ns, not significant, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. Summary data are presented as mean ± SEM. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.