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Bonzo/CXCR6 may be important in trafficking effector T cells making it a potential target for therapeutic modulation of inflammatory diseases
REGULATION OF TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 IMMUNE RESPONSES
Cytokines produced by T (helper) cells are of critical importance in determining the outcome of many infectious and immune mediated diseases. The ability of the immune system to produce the appropriate set of cytokines in response to an infection and then to regulate that response as the infecting agent is cleared determines whether the response is successful and whether long term inflammatory damage persists. A crucial insight into how cytokines coordinate immune responses was provided by the characterisation of T cells into functional subsets1: type 1 T cells, which are driven by interleukin 12, and dominated by interferon γ (IFN-γ) secretion and cell mediated immunity; and type 2 T cells, which are associated with interleukin 4 production and humoral immunity. Originally established on the basis of different cytokines produced by T helper (Th) cell clones, it is now clear that this concept defines distinct immune pathways that affect most, if not all, cells of the immune system and hence the nomenclature T1 and T2 is more accurate.
Abstract: Chemokine receptor expression is finely controlled during T-cell development. We show that newly identified chemokine receptor Bonzo/CXCR6 is expressed by subsets of Th1 or T-cytotoxic 1 (Tc1) cells, but not by Th2 or Tc2 cells, establishing Bonzo as a differential marker of polarized type 1 T cells in vitro and in vivo. Priming of naive T cells by dendritic cells induces expression of Bonzo on T cells. IL-12 enhances this dendritic cell-dependent upregulation, while IL-4 inhibits it. In …
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MH holds a Clinical Training Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust.