Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>Human studies have demonstrated that allergen specific immunotherapy (IT) is validated for allergic diseases. IT involves repeated subcutaneous administration of the allergen following allergen sensitization. We now established a mouse model in which subcutaneous applications with allergen suppressed the asthma-like manifestations. In this model we found an antigen dependent decrease of airway hyperresponsiveness, IgE and lung eosinophils mediated inflammation as compared to untreated mice. Consistently, Th2 as well as Th17 type cytokines were found to be reduced in the lung of antigen treated mice. Moreover, we found that this established subcutaneous immunotherapy decreased the number of lung gamma-delta (γδ)+IL17+ T cells. IL-17 production by αβ T helper cells (Th17) and the conditions of their development received much attention over the last few years, however the role of IL-17-producing γδ T cells was not fully investigated. In fact, it has been recently reported that γδ T cells represent a vast majority of IL-17-producing cells in murine lung. Revealing the role of IL-17 and lung γδ+ IL17+ T cells in asthma and in an immunotherapy model will probably lead to therapeutical improvement for this disease.</jats:p>