Objective To investigate whether allocardiac graft acceptance in the specific NF-κB impaired mice is due to regulatory T cell(Tr) and Th17 cells.Methods Mice abdominal heterotopic cardiac transplantation was performed and then divided in to control group(BALB/c→C57BL/6) and experimental group(BALB/c→IκBα/△N-Tg).Pretransplant and at day 7,30,100 posttransplant,spleens were harvested from the IκBα△ N-Tg mice,and then the Tr were detected by the fluorescence activated cell sorter.At day 5 posttransplant,the CD4 + Th17 cells from the spleens of the two groups were examined by the FACS.Additionally,at day 3 and 5 posttransplant,IL-17 expressed in the cardiac allograft was detected by Western blot.Results In the IκBα/ N-Tg mice group,the cardiac allografts were survived more than day 100,and without obviously lymphocytes infiltration.At the day 7 and 30 posttransplant,the Tr was obviously increased(21.23 ± 3.95,23.17 ± 4.11 vs 11.64 ± 1.96,P ＜ 0.05); however,the Tr decreased at the day 100 posttransplant,and had no difference with before transplant(10.79 ±2.48 vs 11.64 ± 1.96,P ＞0.05).Compared with the control group,at day 5 posttransplant,CD4+ Th17 cells in the IκBα/N-Tg mice and IL-17 expression of the cardiac allograft were both decreased.Conclusion In the early stage after transplantation,specific T cell NF-κB impaired could abrogate the balance of the Tr and Th17 cells,and induce the T cells differentiated into Tr and inhibit the Th17 cells differentiation,and then induce tolerance.