NFAT5 and autoimmune disease: Most recently, it was found that high-salt conditions activate the p38/MAPK pathway involving NFAT5 and SGK1 during cytokine-induced TH17 cell polarization, suggesting that dietary salt may influence autoimmune disease in humans through T-cell-induced production of IL-17 (Kleinewietfeld et al., 2013; O'Shea and Jones, 2013; Wu et al., 2013).