TGF-β specifies TFH versus TH17 cell fates in murine CD4+ T cells through c-Maf (Seq05, bulk-RNAseq)

We have shown that TGFb in combination with IL-6 potently induces a T follicular helper cell (Tfh) cell phenotype in activated murine CD4+ T cells in vitro. The transcription factor c-Maf critically contributes to the differentiation of Tfh cells in vitro and in vivo. Here we cultured naive CD4+ T cells from control and T cell-specific Maf knockout mice with increasing doses of TGF-β (blocking/anti-TGFb (TfhA), 1 ng/ml TGF-β (Tfh1), and 5 ng/ml TGF-β (Tfh5); all conditions included anti-IFNg, anti-IL4, IL-6, IL-21)