Cytasia: The Magical World of Cellular Signaling: Interleukin-17

What if one of the greatest protectors in the Kingdom of Cytasia was also responsible for some of its most troublesome disorders? Meet Lady IL-17, a powerful messenger whose warnings help defend the Skin Realm, Lung Marches, and Gut Provinces from invading bacteria and fungi. Her signals summon the kingdom's rapid-response defenders and are essential for survival. But when her alarm continues long after the threat has passed, the consequences can be profound. The Skin Realm becomes burdened with the thick plaques of psoriasis. The Gut Provinces suffer the chronic inflammation of colitis. Even the joints and spine can become battlegrounds in diseases such as psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Join us as an old wizard potion-maker tells the tale of Lady IL-17—a beloved guardian whose story reveals one of immunology's most important lessons: that the same forces that protect us can also drive disease when balance is lost.