SUMMARY Intestinal stem cells in the adult Drosophila midgut are regulated by growth factors produced from the surrounding niche cells including enterocytes and visceral muscle. The role of the other major cell type, the secretory enteroendocrine cells, in regulating intestinal stem cells remains unclear. We show here that newly eclosed scute loss of function mutant flies are completely devoid of enteroendocrine cells. These enteroendocrine cell-less flies have normal ingestion and fecundity but shorter life span. Moreover, in these newly eclosed mutant flies, the diet-stimulated midgut growth that depends on the insulin-like peptide 3 expression in the surrounding muscle is defective. The depletion of Tachykinin producing enteroendocrine cells or knockdown of Tachykinin leads to a similar although less severe phenotype. These results together establish that enteroendocrine cells serve as an important link between diet and visceral muscle expression of an insulin-like growth factor to stimulate intestinal stem cell proliferation and tissue growth.

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Proteases are recognized environmental allergens, but little is known about the mechanisms responsible for sensing enzyme activity and initiating the development of allergic inflammation. Because usage of the serine protease subtilisin in the detergent industry resulted in an outbreak of occupational asthma in workers, we sought to develop an experimental model of allergic lung inflammation to subtilisin and to determine the immunological mechanisms involved in type 2 responses. By using a mouse model of allergic airway disease, we have defined here that subcutaneous or intranasal sensitization followed by airway challenge to subtilisin induces prototypic allergic lung inflammation, characterized by airway eosinophilia, type 2 cytokines release, mucus production, high levels of serum IgE, and airway reactivity. These allergic responses were dependent on subtilisin protease activity, protease-activated receptor (PAR)-2, IL-33 receptor ST2, and MyD88 signaling. Also, subtilisin stimulated the expression of the pro-allergic cytokines IL-1α, IL-33, TSLP, and the growth factor amphiregulin in a human bronchial epithelial cell line. Notably, acute administration of subtilisin into the airways increased lung IL-5-producing type 2 innate lymphoid cells, which required PAR-2 expression. Finally, subtilisin activity acted as a Th2 adjuvant to an unrelated airborne antigen promoting allergic inflammation to inhaled OVA. Therefore, we established a murine model of occupational asthma to a serine protease and characterized the main molecular pathways involved in allergic sensitization to subtilisin that potentially contribute to initiate allergic airway disease.