Richard M. Locksley

The TNF and TNF Receptor Superfamilies: Integrating Mammalian Biology

The authors regret the inability to cite all of the primary literature contributing to this review due to length considerations. The authors thank F. Chan, T. Migone, M. Peter, J. Puck, R. Siegel, H. Walczak, and J. Wang for insightful comments on the manuscript. N. K. is a Scholar of the Leukemia Society. Supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R. M. L., N. K.).

The Instructive Role of Innate Immunity in the Acquired Immune Response

Innate immunity has been considered only to provide rapid, incomplete antimicrobial host defense until the slower, more definitive acquired immune response develops. However, innate immunity may have an additional role in determining which antigens the acquired immune system responds to and the nature of that response. Knowledge of the molecules and pathways involved may create new therapeutic options for infectious and autoimmune diseases.

Innate lymphoid cells — a proposal for uniform nomenclature

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a family of developmentally related cells that are involved in immunity and in tissue development and remodelling. Recent research has identified several distinct members of this family. Confusingly, many different names have been used to characterize these newly identified ILC subsets. Here, we propose that ILCs should be categorized into three groups based on the cytokines that they can produce and the transcription factors that regulate their development and function.

IL-23 and IL-17 in the establishment of protective pulmonary CD4+ T cell responses after vaccination and during Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge.

Interferon-γ is key in limiting Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Here we show that vaccination triggered an accelerated interferon-γ response by CD4+ T cells in the lung during subsequent M. tuberculosis infection. Interleukin 23 (IL-23) was essential for the accelerated response, for early cessation of bacterial growth and for establishment of an IL-17-producing CD4+ T cell population in the lung. The recall response of the IL-17-producing CD4+ T cell population occurred concurrently with expression of the chemokines CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11. Depletion of IL-17 during challenge reduced the chemokine expression and accumulation of CD4+ T cells producing interferon-γ in the lung. We propose that vaccination induces IL-17-producing CD4+ T cells that populate the lung and, after challenge, trigger the production of chemokines that recruit CD4+ T cells producing interferon-γ, which ultimately restrict bacterial growth.

Visualizing regulatory T cell control of autoimmune responses in nonobese diabetic mice

The in vivo mechanism of regulatory T cell (Treg cell) function in controlling autoimmunity remains controversial. Here we have used two-photon laser-scanning microscopy to analyze lymph node priming of diabetogenic T cells and to delineate the mechanisms of Treg cell control of autoimmunity in vivo. Islet antigen–specific CD4+CD25− T helper cells (TH cells) and Treg cells swarmed and arrested in the presence of autoantigens. These TH cell activities were progressively inhibited in the presence of increasing numbers of Treg cells. There were no detectable stable associations between Treg and TH cells during active suppression. In contrast, Treg cells directly interacted with dendritic cells bearing islet antigen. Such persistent Treg cell–dendritic cell contacts preceded the inhibition of TH cell activation by dendritic cells, supporting the idea that dendritic cells are central to Treg cell function in vivo.

Eosinophils Sustain Adipose Alternatively Activated Macrophages Associated with Glucose Homeostasis

Regulation of adipose tissue macrophages by eosinophils reveals an unexpected role for eosinophils in metabolic homeostasis. Eosinophils are associated with helminth immunity and allergy, often in conjunction with alternatively activated macrophages (AAMs). Adipose tissue AAMs are necessary to maintain glucose homeostasis and are induced by the cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4). Here, we show that eosinophils are the major IL-4–expressing cells in white adipose tissues of mice, and, in their absence, AAMs are greatly attenuated. Eosinophils migrate into adipose tissue by an integrin-dependent process and reconstitute AAMs through an IL-4– or IL-13–dependent process. Mice fed a high-fat diet develop increased body fat, impaired glucose tolerance, and insulin resistance in the absence of eosinophils, and helminth-induced adipose tissue eosinophilia enhances glucose tolerance. Our results suggest that eosinophils play an unexpected role in metabolic homeostasis through maintenance of adipose AAMs.

Systemically dispersed innate IL-13–expressing cells in type 2 immunity

Type 2 immunity is a stereotyped host response to allergens and parasitic helminths that is sustained in large part by the cytokines IL-4 and IL-13. Recent advances have called attention to the contributions by innate cells in initiating adaptive immunity, including a novel lineage-negative population of cells that secretes IL-13 and IL-5 in response to the epithelial cytokines IL-25 and IL-33. Here, we use IL-4 and IL-13 reporter mice to track lineage-negative innate cells that arise during type 2 immunity or in response to IL-25 and IL-33 in vivo. Unexpectedly, lineage-negative IL-25 (and IL-33) responsive cells are widely distributed in tissues of the mouse and are particularly prevalent in mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, and liver. These cells expand robustly in response to exogenous IL-25 or IL-33 and after infection with the helminth Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, and they are the major innate IL-13–expressing cells under these conditions. Activation of these cells using IL-25 is sufficient for worm clearance, even in the absence of adaptive immunity. Widely dispersed innate type 2 helper cells, which we designate Ih2 cells, play an integral role in type 2 immune responses.

Chitin induces accumulation in tissue of innate immune cells associated with allergy

Allergic and parasitic worm immunity is characterized by infiltration of tissues with interleukin (IL)-4- and IL-13-expressing cells, including T-helper-2 cells, eosinophils and basophils. Tissue macrophages assume a distinct phenotype, designated alternatively activated macrophages. Relatively little is known about the factors that trigger these host responses. Chitin, a widespread environmental biopolymer of N-acetyl-β-d-glucosamine, provides structural rigidity to fungi, crustaceans, helminths and insects. Here, we show that chitin induces the accumulation in tissue of IL-4-expressing innate immune cells, including eosinophils and basophils, when given to mice. Tissue infiltration was unaffected by the absence of Toll-like-receptor-mediated lipopolysaccharide recognition but did not occur if the injected chitin was pre-treated with the IL-4- and IL-13-inducible mammalian chitinase, AMCase, or if the chitin was injected into mice that overexpressed AMCase. Chitin mediated alternative macrophage activation in vivo and the production of leukotriene B4, which was required for optimal immune cell recruitment. Chitin is a recognition element for tissue infiltration by innate cells implicated in allergic and helminth immunity and this process can be negatively regulated by a vertebrate chitinase.

Alternatively activated macrophages produce catecholamines to sustain adaptive thermogenesis

All homeotherms use thermogenesis to maintain their core body temperature, ensuring that cellular functions and physiological processes can continue in cold environments. In the prevailing model of thermogenesis, when the hypothalamus senses cold temperatures it triggers sympathetic discharge, resulting in the release of noradrenaline in brown adipose tissue and white adipose tissue. Acting via the β3-adrenergic receptors, noradrenaline induces lipolysis in white adipocytes, whereas it stimulates the expression of thermogenic genes, such as PPAR-γ coactivator 1a (Ppargc1a), uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) and acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 1 (Acsl1), in brown adipocytes. However, the precise nature of all the cell types involved in this efferent loop is not well established. Here we report in mice an unexpected requirement for the interleukin-4 (IL-4)-stimulated program of alternative macrophage activation in adaptive thermogenesis. Exposure to cold temperature rapidly promoted alternative activation of adipose tissue macrophages, which secrete catecholamines to induce thermogenic gene expression in brown adipose tissue and lipolysis in white adipose tissue. Absence of alternatively activated macrophages impaired metabolic adaptations to cold, whereas administration of IL-4 increased thermogenic gene expression, fatty acid mobilization and energy expenditure, all in a macrophage-dependent manner. Thus, we have discovered a role for alternatively activated macrophages in the orchestration of an important mammalian stress response, the response to cold.

Constitutive cytokine mRNAs mark natural killer (NK) and NK T cells poised for rapid effector function

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.