IL17C and colitis: The elevated gene expression of IL17re/IL17C in Blastocystis colonized rats prior to colitis (Day 32) and 2 days after the induction of colitis (Day 88; Figure 4) is intriguing because this cytokine is reported to be involved in mucosal defense against pathogens and plays a role in mitigating the impacts of inflammation in models of induced colitis using dextran sulfate sodium (Ramirez-Carrozzi et al., 2011; Song et al., 2011; Reynolds et al., 2012).