Transcriptional profile of Th17 cells: The role of glycolysis

The aim of this study is to investigate a role of glycolysis in transcriptional programing of Th17 cells during differentiation. Naïve CD4 T cells were differentiated towards Th17 cells with or without a mild inhibition of glycolysis, and transcriptome signature was analyzed. We found about 200 transcripts were differentially regulated. Further pathway analysis suggested that glycolysis controls genes associated with IL-2/STAT5 signaling during Th17 differentiation. Inhibition of glycolysis resulted in enrichment of genes associated with translational processes and Th17 signature genes. Naïve CD4 T cells were differentiated into Th17 cells in the presence of vehicle or 2DG (glycolysis inhibitor) for 48 hours. Total mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing in triplicate using Illumina HiSeq 2500.