The molecular checkpoints that drive inflammatory bowel diseases are incompletely understood. Here we found more T cells expressing the transcription factor PU.1 and interleukin 9 (IL-9) in patients with ulcerative colitis. In an animal model, citrine reporter mice had more IL-9-expressing mucosal T cells in experimental oxazolone-induced colitis. IL-9 deficiency suppressed acute and chronic colitis. Mice with PU.1 deficiency in T cells were protected from colitis, whereas treatment with antibody to IL-9 suppressed colitis. Functionally, IL-9 impaired intestinal barrier function and prevented mucosal wound healing in vivo. Thus, our findings suggest that the TH9 subset of helper T cells serves an important role in driving ulcerative colitis by regulating intestinal epithelial cells and that TH9 cells represent a likely target for the treatment of chronic intestinal inflammation.

Although IL-12 and IL-23 share the common p40 subunit, IL-23, rather than IL-12, seems to drive the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and arthritis, because IL-23/p19 knockout mice are protected from disease. In contrast, we describe in this study that newly created LacZ knockin mice deficient for IL-23 p19 were highly susceptible for the development of experimental T cell-mediated TNBS colitis and showed even more severe colitis than wild-type mice by endoscopic and histologic criteria. Subsequent studies revealed that dendritic cells from p19-deficient mice produce elevated levels of IL-12, and that IL-23 down-regulates IL-12 expression upon TLR ligation. Finally, in vivo blockade of IL-12 p40 in IL-23-deficient mice rescued mice from lethal colitis. Taken together, our data identify cross-regulation of IL-12 expression by IL-23 as novel key regulatory pathway during initiation of T cell dependent colitis.

CD101 exerts negative-costimulatory effects in vitro, but its function in vivo remains poorly defined. CD101 is abundantly expressed on lymphoid and myeloid cells in intestinal tissues, but absent from naïve splenic T cells. Here, we assessed the impact of CD101 on the course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Using a T cell transfer model of chronic colitis, we found that in recipients of naïve T cells from CD101 +/+ donors up to 30% of the recovered lymphocytes expressed CD101, correlating with an increased IL-2-mediated FoxP3-expression. Transfer of CD101 −/− T cells caused more severe colitis and was associated with an expansion of IL-17-producing T cells and an enhanced expression of IL-2Rα/β independently of FoxP3. The cotransfer of naïve and regulatory T cells (Treg) protected most effectively from colitis, when both donor and recipient mice expressed CD101. While the expression of CD101 on T cells was sufficient for Treg-function and the inhibition of T cell proliferation, sustained IL-10-production required additional CD101-expression by myeloid cells. Finally, in patients with IBD a reduced CD101-expression on peripheral and intestinal monocytes and CD4 + T cells correlated with enhanced IL-17-production and disease activity. Thus, CD101-deficiency is a novel marker for progressive colitis and potential target for therapeutic intervention.

Background/aims: An efficient cytolytic T cell function is essential for immune mediated rejection of colorectal cancer. However, the molecular mechanisms driving T cell mediated cancer rejection are still poorly understood. Here, we assessed the relevance of the T-box transcription factor eomesodermin in colorectal cancer. Methods/results: By analysing tissue probes from 88 different colorectal tumours, a significant (p,0.02) inverse correlation between eomesodermin expression in colorectal cancers and the presence of lymph node metastases could be shown, whereas no such correlation was noted for the master transcription factor of regulatory T cells, FoxP3 and CD8alpha expression. To evaluate whether this effect might be due to effects of eomesodermin on tumour infiltrating CD8 T cells, we subsequently analysed the regulated expression and function of this transcription factor in human T cells. Whereas overexpression of this factor induced perforin but not granzyme expression, siRNA mediated suppression of eomesodermin expression led to significantly reduced IFN-c production, perforin levels and cytolytic activity of CD8 T cells. Furthermore, TGF-b and IL4 could be identified as important inducer of eomesodermin expression. Conclusion: These data define for the first time a regulatory role of eomesodermin for CD8 T cell activity in humans. Our findings are consistent with a model in which eomesodermin expression in tumour infiltrating T cells regulates cytolytic functions of CD8 T cells via perforin expression. These data provide novel insights into control mechanisms governing the functional activity of human CD8 T lymphocytes via T-box transcription factors in cancer.