Disclosed is an ex-vivo model of inflamed skin, an in-vitro method for obtaining the same and uses thereof for screening anti-inflammatory compounds. The method includes injecting, into the dermis of a healthy skin biopsy previously taken from a mammal, a composition including an effective amount for activating dermal resident T cells of an anti-CD3 antibody and an anti-CD28 antibody; and b) incubating the injected skin biopsy obtained in step a) in the presence of a composition including an effective amount, for obtaining the polarization of the T cells activated in step a) into LTh1 and/or LTh17 and the synthesis of inflammation markers, of at least one mixture of IL-1?, IL-23, and TGF-?.

The invention includes compositions and methods for generating and expanding therapeutic Th17 cells. The invention includes contacting T cells with a composition comprising a first agent that is capable of providing a primary activation signal to T cells and a second agent that is capable of activating ICOS on T cells in the presence of Th-17 polarizing agents.

The present application provides fusion proteins that have two polypeptides, each having an extracellular domain and an intracellular domain, and the two extracellular domains form a binding site for TGF and the two intracellular domains form the intracellular domain of an IL-23 receptor complex. The present application also provides nucleic acids encoding the fusion proteins, vectors comprising the nucleic acids, and engineered cells expressing the fusion proteins. Method of producing the engineered cells and methods of treatment that involves administering engineered cells are also provided.

The present invention relates to an ex-vivo model of inflamed skin, an in-vitro method for obtaining the same and uses thereof for screening anti-inflammatory compounds.

The disclosure provides methods of making CAR-expressing immune effector cells (e.g., T cells, or NK cells), and compositions and reaction mixtures comprising the same. The disclosure further provides methods of using said CAR-expressing immune effector cells.