Evidence of STAT5-dependent and -independent routes to CD8 memory formation and a preferential role for IL-7 over IL-15 in STAT5 activation.

Interleukin (IL)-7 and IL-15 have non-redundant roles in promoting development of memory CD8(+) T cells. STAT5 is activated by receptors of both cytokines and has also been implicated as a requirement for generation of memory. To determine whether STAT5 activity was required for IL-7 and IL-15-mediated generation of memory, we expressed either wild type (WT) or constitutively active (CA) forms of STAT5a in normal effector cells and then observed their ability to form memory in cytokine replete or deficient hosts. Receptor-independent CA-STAT5a significantly enhanced memory formation in the absence of either cytokine but did not mediate complete rescue. Interestingly, WT-STAT5a expression enhanced memory formation in a strictly IL-7-dependent manner, suggesting that IL-7 is a more potent activator of STAT5 than IL-15 in vivo. These data suggest that the non-redundant requirement for IL-7 and IL-15 is mediated through differential activation of both STAT5-dependent and STAT5-independent pathways.

ILC3 GM-CSF production and mobilisation orchestrate acute intestinal inflammation.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) contribute to host defence and tissue repair but can induce immunopathology. Recent work has revealed tissue-specific roles for ILCs; however, the question of how a small population has large effects on immune homeostasis remains unclear. We identify two mechanisms that ILC3s utilise to exert their effects within intestinal tissue. ILC-driven colitis depends on production of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which recruits and maintains intestinal inflammatory monocytes. ILCs present in the intestine also enter and exit cryptopatches in a highly dynamic process. During colitis, ILC3s mobilize from cryptopatches, a process that can be inhibited by blocking GM-CSF, and mobilization precedes inflammatory foci elsewhere in the tissue. Together these data identify the IL-23R/GM-CSF axis within ILC3 as a key control point in the accumulation of innate effector cells in the intestine and in the spatio-temporal dynamics of ILCs in the intestinal inflammatory response.

Tissue specific deletion of inhibitor of kappa B kinase 2 with OX40-Cre reveals the unanticipated expression from the OX40 locus in skin epidermis.

NF-κB signalling plays an essential role in T cell activation and generation of regulatory and memory populations in vivo. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of NF-κB signalling in post-activation T cells using tissue specific ablation of inhibitor of kappa-B kinase 2 expression, an important component of the inhibitor of kappa-B kinase complex in canonical NF-κB signalling. The OX40 antigen is expressed on activated T cells. Therefore, we used previously described mouse strain expressing Cre recombinase from the endogenous OX40 locus. Ablation of IKK2 expression using OX40(Cre) mice resulted in the development of an inflammatory response in the skin epidermis causing wide spread skin lesions. The inflammatory response was characterised by extensive leukocytic infiltrate in skin tissue, hyperplasia of draining lymph nodes and widespread activation in the T cell compartment. Surprisingly, disease development did not depend on T cells but was rather associated with an unanticipated expression of Cre in skin epidermis, and activation of the T cell compartment did not require Ikbk2 deletion in T cells. Employment of Cre reporter strains revealed extensive Cre activity in skin epidermis. Therefore, development of skin lesions was rather more likely explained by deletion of Ikbk2 in skin keratinocytes in OX40(Cre) mice.