Tsanaktsi A, et al. - In patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and healthy donors, the analysis of Th17 and Th1/17 cells was carried out. Researchers detected increased percentages of circulating Τh17 and Th1/17 cells in patients with active disease. They also noted that, significantly more IL-17 was secreted by stimulated T cells from patients with lupus vs those from healthy donors. A significantly lower level of T cells-released IFN-γ was detected in patients with active SLE vs controls. However, levels of IFN-γ also rose significantly after stimulation. Findings indicated that lupus Th1/17 cells were not only expanded but also functional. The impaired T-cell axis, as observed in this study, might be a possible future therapeutic target.