Specific surface markers of Th1/Th2 subsets and their identification

CD4+Tcells can be divided into Th1/Th2 subsets.Th1/Th2 imbalance participates many disease processes.A stable surface marker distinguishing Th1 and Th2 will greatly facilitate the investigation of Th1/Th2 interaction.Several surface molecules have been reported to be differentialy expressed between Th1 and Th2 cells.LAG-3, active ligands for P-and E-selectin, IL-18R, IL-12Rβ2, CC chemokine receptor(CCR5)were shown to be dominantly expressed on Th1 cells, whereas expression of CD30, ST2L, CRTH2, CCR3, CCR4 was reported to be preferential to Th2 cells.In this review, several surface molecules were mainly discussed.