• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Intraepithelial NK Cell-Derived IL-13 Induces Intestinal Pathology Associated with Nematode Infection
  • Contributor: McDermott, Jacqueline R.; Humphreys, Neil E.; Forman, Simon P.; Donaldson, Debra D.; Grencis, Richard K.
  • imprint: The American Association of Immunologists, 2005
  • Published in: The Journal of Immunology
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.175.5.3207
  • ISSN: 1550-6606; 0022-1767
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>IL-13 is a Th2-derived cytokine associated with pathological changes in asthma and ulcerative colitis. Moreover, it plays a major role in the control of gut nematode infection and associated immunopathology. The current paradigm is that these effects are due to T cell-derived IL-13. We show in this study that an innate source of IL-13, the intraepithelial NK cell, is responsible for the disruption of intestinal tissue architecture and induction of goblet cell hyperplasia that characterizes infection with the intestinal helminth Trichinella spiralis. IL-13 or IL-4Rα (but not IL-4) null mice failed to induce intestinal pathology. Unexpectedly, SCID and athymic mice developed the same pathology found in immunocompetent mice following infection. Moreover, immunodeficient mice expressed IL-13 in the intestine, and abnormal mucosal pathology was reduced by in vivo administration of a soluble IL-13 antagonist. IL-13 expression was induced in non-T intraepithelial CD3− NK cells. Epithelial cells expressed the IL-13 signaling receptor, IL-13Rα1, and after infection, IL-4Rα. Furthermore, the soluble IL-13 decoy receptor IL-13Rα2, which regulates IL-13 responses, was also induced upon infection. These data provide the first evidence that intestinal tissue restructuring during helminth infection is an innate event dependent on IL-13 production by NK cells resident in the epithelium of the intestine.</jats:p>
  • Access State: Open Access