Type 2 inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-4 (IL-4), -5, -9, and -13 drive the characteristic features of immunity against parasitic worms and allergens. Whether IL-9 serves an essential role in the initiation of host-protective responses is controversial and the importance of IL-9 vs. IL-4 producing CD4+ effector T cells in Type 2 immunity is incompletely defined. Herein, we generated IL-9 deficient and IL-9 fluorescent reporter mice that demonstrated an essential role for this cytokine in the early Type 2 immunity against Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. Whereas Th9 cells and Type 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC2) were major sources of infection-induced IL-9 production, the adoptive transfer of Th9 cells, but not Th2 cells caused rapid worm expulsion, marked basophilia and increased mast cell numbers in Rag2-deficient hosts. Taken together, our data show a critical and non-redundant role for Th9 cells and IL-9 in host protective Type 2 immunity against parasitic worm infection.

CD13 is a membrane-bound ectopeptidase, highly expressed on monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. CD13 is involved in diverse functions, including degradation of peptide mediators, cellular adhesion, migration, viral endocytosis, signaling, and positive modulation of phagocytosis mediated by FcγRs and other phagocytic receptors. In this work, we explored whether besides acting as an accessory receptor, CD13 by itself is a primary phagocytic receptor. We found that hCD13 mediates efficient phagocytosis of large particles (erythrocytes) modified so as to interact with the cell only through CD13 in human macrophages and THP-1 monocytic cells. The extent of this phagocytosis is comparable with the phagocytosis mediated through the canonical phagocytic receptor FcγRI. Furthermore, we demonstrated that hCD13 expression in the nonphagocytic cell line HEK293 is sufficient to enable these cells to internalize particles bound through hCD13. CD13-mediated phagocytosis is independent of other phagocytic receptors, as it occurs in the absence of FcγRs, CR3, and most phagocytic receptors. Phagocytosis through CD13 is independent of its enzymatic activity but is dependent on actin rearrangement and activation of PI3K and is partially dependent on Syk activation. Moreover, the cross-linking of CD13 with antibodies rapidly induced pSyk in human macrophages. Finally, we observed that antibody-mediated cross-linking of hCD13, expressed in the murine macrophage-like J774 cell line, induces production of ROS. These results demonstrate that CD13 is a fully competent phagocytic receptor capable of mediating internalization of large particles.

Summary Chemokine‐mediated signalling involves the activation of a Janus kinase (Jak) pathway. We have previously shown that Jak3 mediates CCR9 and CXCR4 signalling in response to CCL25 and CXCL12 in BM progenitors and thymocytes. The lack of peripheral lymph nodes and Peyer's patches observed in Jak3–/– mice suggested a possible role of Jak3 in CCR7‐mediated homing to these organs. Here, we demonstrate phosphorylation of Jak3 in peripheral lymphocytes in response CCL19 and CCL21. In addition, Jak3–/– naïve T cells and pharmacologically inhibited Jak3+/+ T lymphocytes have impaired chemotactic responses towards these ligands. Interestingly, CCR7 expression was higher in Jak3–/– thymocytes compared to their Jak3+/– littermates, indicating that the impaired migration must be caused by impaired CCR7‐mediated signalling, in the absence of Jak3. In addition, adoptive transfer experiments showed that Jak3+/+ mice reconstituted with Jak3–/– green fluorescent protein (GFP)+ bone marrow progenitors had reduced T‐lymphocyte homing to peripheral and mesenteric lymph nodes, compared to reconstitution with Jak3+/+ GFP+ progenitors. Furthermore, reciprocal transfer experiments indicated that Jak3–/– stromal cells were not responsible for the deficient T‐cell homing. Finally, we performed direct competitive homing assays and demonstrated that Jak3–/– T lymphocytes have a clear defect in homing to peripheral and mesenteric lymph nodes, while migration to spleen was moderately impaired. Our data demonstrates that Jak3–/– T lymphocytes have an intrinsic defect in CCR7‐mediated homing to peripheral lymphoid organs.

CD13 is a membrane glycoprotein with aminopeptidase activity, expressed on several cell types, including myeloid cells (dendritic cells, monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, etc.). CD13 participates in several functions such as proteolytic regulation of bioactive peptides, viral receptor, angiogenesis, and tumor metastasis. CD13 has also been proposed to participate in cell adhesion, as crosslinking of CD13 by certain CD13-specific antibodies induces homotypic aggregation of monocytes and heterotypic adhesion of monocytes to endothelial cells. We generated two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs C and E) that block homotypic aggregation of U-937 monocytic cells induced by CD13-specific mAb 452. Moreover, the mAbs cause detachment of cells whose aggregation was induced by CD13 crosslinking. Both mAbs also inhibit heterotypic adhesion of U-937 monocytes to endothelial cells. mAbs C and E recognize membrane CD13 but bind to epitopes different from that recognized by mAb 452. Crosslinking of CD13 by mAb C or E is required to inhibit adhesion, as monovalent Fab fragments are not sufficient. Thus, C and E antibodies recognize a distinct epitope on CD13, and binding to this epitope interferes with both CD13-mediated cell adhesion and enzymatic activity. These antibodies may represent important tools to study cell-cell interactions mediated by CD13 in physiological and pathological conditions.