No abstract

CCR6 expression in dendritic, T, and B cells suggests that this β-chemokine receptor may regulate the migration and recruitment of antigen-presenting and immunocompetent cells during inflammatory and immunological responses. Here we demonstrate that CCR6 -/-mice have underdeveloped Peyer's patches, in which the myeloid CD11b + CD11c + dendritic-cell subset is not present in the subepithelial dome. CCR6 -/-mice also have increased numbers in T-cell subpopulations within the intestinal mucosa. In 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene-induced contact hypersensitivity (CHS) studies, CCR6 -/-mice developed more severe and more persistent inflammation than wild-type (WT) animals. Conversely, in a delayedtype hypersensitivity (DTH) model induced with allogeneic splenocytes, CCR6 -/-mice developed no inflammatory response. The altered responses seen in the CHS and DTH assays suggest the existence of a defect in the activation and/or migration of the CD4 + T-cell subsets that downregulate or elicit the inflammation response, respectively. These findings underscore the role of CCR6 in cutaneous and intestinal immunity and the utility of CCR6 -/-mice as a model to study pathologies in these tissues.

No abstract