IL17A and rheumatoid arthritis: In RA PBMCs, frequencies of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) (9.0 ± 4.73 vs. 5.5 ± 3.83, P = 0.0313), interleukin-17A (IL-17A) (0.6 ± 0.63 vs. 0.1 ± 0.05, P = 0.0156) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (4.4 ± 4.4 vs. 0.7 ± 0.87, P = 0.0156) producing cells in CD4-positive T cells were significantly reduced after treatment with CS-ESP (Fig. 2A upper panels).