An IL-9 fate reporter demonstrates the induction of an innate IL-9 response in lung inflammation

著者: Christoph Wilhelm, Keiji Hirota, Benjamin Stieglitz, Jacques Van Snick, Mauro Tolaini, Katharina Lahl, Tim Sparwasser, Helena Helmby, Brigitta Stockinger - Nature Immunology 2011 被引用: 477

The cellular sources of IL-9 in lung inflammation remain unknown. Stockinger and colleagues use an IL-9 reporter to show IL-9 production is restricted to innate lymphoid cells during papain-induced lung inflammation. Interleukin 9 (IL-9) is a cytokine linked to lung inflammation, but its cellular origin and function remain unclear. Here we describe a reporter mouse strain designed to map the fate of cells that have activated IL-9. We found that during papain-induced lung inflammation, IL-9 production was largely restricted to innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). IL-9 production by ILCs depended on IL-2 from adaptive immune cells and was rapidly lost in favor of other cytokines, such as IL-13 and IL-5. Blockade of IL-9 production via neutralizing antibodies resulted in much lower expression of IL-13 and IL-5, which suggested that ILCs provide the missing link between the well-established functions of IL-9 in the regulation of type 2 helper T cell cytokines and responses.