We used these two well-characterized anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive cytokines rather than ambiguous cytokines like e.g. GM-CSF, which was reported to exert pro-inflammatory function in some experimental settings, but nevertheless was also shown to suppress autoimmune diseases indirectly by mediating tolerance via inducing tolerogenic DCs, probably depending on the dose of GM-CSF [41–44]. This evidence concerns the gene CSF2 and autoimmune disease.