The pathogenesis of asthma reflects, in part, the activity of T cell cytokines. Murine models support participation of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and the IL-4 receptor in asthma. Selective neutralization of IL-13, a cytokine related to IL-4 that also binds to the α chain of the IL-4 receptor, ameliorated the asthma phenotype, including airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophil recruitment, and mucus overproduction. Administration of either IL-13 or IL-4 conferred an asthma-like phenotype to nonimmunized T cell–deficient mice by an IL-4 receptor α chain–dependent pathway. This pathway may underlie the genetic associations of asthma with both the human 5q31 locus and the IL-4 receptor.

Natural killer (NK) and NK T cells are tissue lymphocytes that secrete cytokines rapidly upon stimulation. Here, we show that these cells maintain distinct patterns of constitutive cytokine mRNAs. Unlike conventional T cells, NK T cells activate interleukin (IL)-4 and interferon (IFN)-γ transcription during thymic development and populate the periphery with both cytokine loci previously modified by histone acetylation. Similarly, NK cells transcribe and modify the IFN-γ gene, but not IL-4, during developmental maturation in the bone marrow. Lineage-specific patterns of cytokine transcripts predate infection and suggest evolutionary selection for invariant but distinct types of effector responses among the earliest responding lymphocytes.

Macrophage/neutrophil-specific IL-4 receptor alpha-deficient mice (LysM(Cre)IL-4Ralpha(-/flox)) were generated to understand the role of IL-4/IL-13 responsive myeloid cells during Type 2 immune responses. LysM(Cre)IL-4Ralpha(-/flox) mice developed protective immunity against Nippostrongylus brasiliensis accompanied by T(H)2 development and goblet cell hyperplasia. In contrast, LysM(Cre)IL-4Ralpha(-/flox) mice were extremely susceptible to Schistosoma mansoni infection with 100% mortality during acute infection. Mortality was not dependent on neutrophils and occurred in the presence of T(H)2/Type 2 responses, granuloma formation, and egg-induced fibrosis. Death was associated with increased T(H)1 cytokines, hepatic and intestinal histopathology, increased NOS-2 activity, impaired egg expulsion, and sepsis. IL-10 was not able to compensate for the absence of IL-4/IL-13-activated alternative macrophages. Together, this shows that alternative macrophages are essential during schistosomiasis for protection against organ injury through downregulation of egg-induced inflammation.

Effector T cells mediate adaptive immunity and immunopathology, but methods for tracking such cells in vivo are limited. We engineered knockin mice expressing IL-4 linked via a viral IRES element with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). Reporter T cells primed under Th2 conditions showed sensitive and faithful EGFP expression and maintained endogenous IL-4. After Nippostrongylus infection, reporter expression demonstrated the evolution of type 2 immunity from tissue lymphocytes and thence to lymph node CD4(+) T cells, which subsequently migrated into tissue. The appearance of EGFP(+) CD4(+) T cells in tissue, but not in lymph nodes, was Stat6-dependent. Transferred EGFP(+) CD4(+) T cells from infected animals conferred protection against Nippostrongylus to immunodeficient mice. These mice will provide a valuable reagent for assessing immunity in vivo.

In a recent issue of Immunity (20, 623-635), there were errors in the author affiliations. The corrected version is printed below.

Naive CD4+ T cells activated through TCR/CD28 under Th1 or Th2 conditions expressed canonical cytokine patterns irrespective of cell division. Only cells that had divided fewer than four times were capable of reexpressing alternative cytokines when restimulated under opposing conditions. Although T cells transcribed both IFN-gamma and IL-4 within hours in a Stat4-/Stat6-independent manner, neither T-bet nor GATA-3 was induced optimally without Stat signals, and polarized cytokine expression was not sustained. Cytokine genes were positioned apart from heterochromatin in resting T cell nuclei, consistent with rapid expression. After polarization, the majority of silenced cytokine alleles were repositioned to heterochromatin. Naive T cells transit through sequential stages of cytokine activation, commitment, silencing, and physical stabilization during polarization into differentiated effector subsets.

The relationship of T follicular helper (TFH) cells to other T helper (Th) subsets is controversial. We find that after helminth infection, or immunization with helminth antigens, reactive lymphoid organs of 4get IL-4/GFP reporter mice contain populations of IL-4/GFP-expressing CD4+ T cells that display the TFH markers CXCR5, PD-1, and ICOS. These TFH cells express the canonical TFH markers BCL6 and IL-21, but also GATA3, the master regulator of Th2 cell differentiation. Consistent with a relationship between Th2 and TFH cells, IL-4 protein production, reported by expression of huCD2 in IL-4 dual reporter (4get/KN2) mice, was a robust marker of TFH cells in LNs responding to helminth antigens. Moreover, the majority of huCD2/IL-4–producing Th cells were found within B cell follicles, consistent with their definition as TFH cells. TFH cell development after immunization failed to occur in mice lacking B cells or CD154. The relationship of TFH cells to the Th2 lineage was confirmed when TFH cells were found to develop from CXCR5− PD-1− IL-4/GFP+ CD4+ T cells after their transfer into naive mice and antigen challenge in vivo.

Soluble egg antigens of the parasitic helminth Schistosoma mansoni (S. mansoni egg antigen [SEA]) induce strong Th2 responses both in vitro and in vivo. However, the specific molecules that prime the development of Th2 responses have not been identified. We report that omega-1, a glycoprotein which is secreted from S. mansoni eggs and present in SEA, is capable of conditioning human monocyte-derived dendritic cells in vitro to drive T helper 2 (Th2) polarization with similar characteristics as whole SEA. Furthermore, using IL-4 dual reporter mice, we show that both natural and recombinant omega-1 alone are sufficient to generate Th2 responses in vivo, even in the absence of IL-4R signaling. Finally, omega-1–depleted SEA displays an impaired capacity for Th2 priming in vitro, but not in vivo, suggesting the existence of additional factors within SEA that can compensate for the omega-1–mediated effects. Collectively, we identify omega-1, a single component of SEA, as a potent inducer of Th2 responses.