Innate lymphoid cells (ILC) specialize in the rapid secretion of polarized sets of cytokines and chemokines to combat infection and promote tissue repair at mucosal barriers.1–9 Their diversity and similarities with previously characterized NK cells and lymphoid tissue inducers (LTi) have prompted a provisional classification of all innate lymphocytes into groups 1, 2 and 3 based solely on cytokine properties,10 but their developmental pathways and lineage relationships remain elusive. Using lineage tracing and transfer studies, we identified and characterized a novel subset of lymphoid precursors in fetal liver and adult bone marrow that transiently expressed high amounts of PLZF, a transcription factor previously associated with NKT cell development.11,12 PLZFhigh cells were committed ILC progenitors with multiple ILC1, ILC2 and ILC3 potential at the clonal level. They excluded classical LTi and NK cells, but included a peculiar subset of NK1.1+DX5− ‘NK-like’ cells residing in the liver. Deletion of PLZF markedly altered the development of several ILC subsets, but not LTi or NK cells. PLZFhigh precursors also expressed high amounts of Id2 and GATA3, as well as TOX, a known regulator of PLZF-independent NK and LTi lineages.13 These findings establish novel lineage relationships between ILC, NK and LTi cells, and identify the common precursor to ILC, termed ILCP. They also reveal the broad, defining role of PLZF in the differentiation of innate lymphocytes.

In response to ATP binding, the P2X7R facilitates cation channel activation, nonspecific pore formation, rapid changes in plasma membrane morphology, and secretion of IL-1β from LPS-primed macrophages. To investigate the relationship between the P2X7R-dependent changes in plasma membrane organization and the release of IL-1β, we generated time-lapse movies of ATP-stimulated BAC1 murine macrophages in conjunction with biochemical analyses of IL-1β release. Similar image analyses in human embryonic kidney 293 cells expressing recombinant P2X7R (HEK-P2X7) permitted comparison of P2X7R-dependent effects in macrophage vs nonmacrophage backgrounds. Whereas HEK-P2X7 cells exhibit zeiotic blebbing within 5 min of ATP treatment, BAC1 macrophages initiated a distinct “tethered” blebbing 10 min after ATP addition. This blebbing was comparably induced by the P2X7R-selective agonist BzATP and was blocked by P2X7R inhibitors KN-62 and oxidized ATP. Blebbing was initiated at ATP concentrations ≥3 mM, but optimal IL-1β release occurred at 1 mM ATP. P2X7R-dependent blebbing was abrogated in the presence of Rho-effector kinase inhibitors Fasudil and Y-27632, but ATP-induced IL-1β release was unaffected. ATP-induced activation of RhoA could be detected in both HEK-P2X7 cells and BAC1 murine macrophages. Thus, P2X7R activation signals distinct, novel membrane blebbing events (dependent on RhoA activation and Rho-effector kinase activity) and simultaneously initiates release of IL-1β. Our observations that blebbing and IL-1β release are dissociable suggest these events occur via parallel rather than convergent signaling pathways.

Among the variety of tissue-resident NK-like populations recently distinguished from recirculating classical NK (cNK) cells, liver innate lymphoid cells (ILC) type 1 (ILC1s) have been shown to represent a distinct lineage that originates from a novel promyelocytic leukaemia zinc finger (PLZF)-expressing ILC precursor (ILCP) strictly committed to the ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 lineages. Here, using PLZF-reporter mice and cell transfer assays, we studied the developmental progression of ILC1s and demonstrated substantial overlap with stages previously ascribed to the cNK lineage, including pre–pro-NK, pre-NK precursor (pre-NKP), refined NKP (rNKP), and immature NK (iNK). Although they originated from different precursors, the ILC1 and cNK lineages followed a parallel progression at early stages and diverged later at the iNK stage, with a striking predominance of ILC1s over cNKs early in ontogeny. Although a limited set of ILC1 genes depended on PLZF for expression, characteristically including Il7r, most of these genes were also differentially expressed between ILC1s and cNKs, indicating that PLZF together with other, yet to be defined, factors contribute to the divergence between these lineages.

No abstract