Frozen tongue was homogenized in RLT buffer (RNAeasy kit; Qiagen) with a GentleMACS Dissociator (Miltenyi). cDNA was synthesized with a SuperScript III first-strand synthesis system (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Relative quantification of gene expression was determined by real-time PCR with SYBR green (Quanta BioSciences, Gaithersburg, MD) normalized to Gapdh. Primers were from SA Biosciences (Qiagen). Results were analyzed on a 7300 real-time PCR system (Applied Biosystems, Carlsbad, CA). Knockdown of c-Fos was performed as described in (14 (link)); briefly, 3×105 TR146 cells were serum starved for 24 h and transfected with 37 nM c-Fos siRNA in HiPerFect Reagent (Qiagen) for 2 d. Cells were treated with Clys or IL-17 for 24 h and supernatants analyzed by ELISA.