BackgroundThe initiation and regulation of pulmonary fibrosis are not well understood. IL-33, an important cytokine for respiratory diseases, is overexpressed in the lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.ObjectivesWe aimed to determine the effects and mechanism of IL-33 on the development and severity of pulmonary fibrosis in murine bleomycin-induced fibrosis.MethodsLung fibrosis was induced by bleomycin in wild-type or Il33r (St2)−/− C57BL/6 mice treated with the recombinant mature form of IL-33 or anti–IL-33 antibody or transferred with type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s). The development and severity of fibrosis was evaluated based on lung histology, collagen levels, and lavage cytology. Cytokine and chemokine levels were quantified by using quantitative PCR, ELISA, and cytometry.ResultsIL-33 is constitutively expressed in lung epithelial cells but is induced in macrophages by bleomycin. Bleomycin enhanced the production of the mature but reduced full-length form of IL-33 in lung tissue. ST2 deficiency, anti–IL-33 antibody treatment, or alveolar macrophage depletion attenuated and exogenous IL-33 or adoptive transfer of ILC2s enhanced bleomycin-induced lung inflammation and fibrosis. These pathologic changes were accompanied, respectively, by reduced or increased IL-33, IL-13, TGF-β1, and inflammatory chemokine production in the lung. Furthermore, IL-33 polarized M2 macrophages to produce IL-13 and TGF-β1 and induced the expansion of ILC2s to produce IL-13 in vitro and in vivo.ConclusionsIL-33 is a novel profibrogenic cytokine that signals through ST2 to promote the initiation and progression of pulmonary fibrosis by recruiting and directing inflammatory cell function and enhancing profibrogenic cytokine production in an ST2- and macrophage-dependent manner.

CD4+ T cells have long been grouped into distinct helper subsets on the basis of their cytokine-secretion profile. In recent years, several subsets of innate lymphoid cell have been described as key producers of these same Th-associated cytokines. However, the functional relationship between Th cells and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) remains unclear. We show in this study that lineage-negative ST2+ICOS+CD45+ type 2 ILCs and CD4+ T cells can potently stimulate each other’s function via distinct mechanisms. CD4+ T cell provision of IL-2 stimulates type 2 cytokine production by type 2 ILCs. By contrast, type 2 ILCs modulate naive T cell activation in a cell contact–dependent manner, favoring Th2 while suppressing Th1 differentiation. Furthermore, a proportion of type 2 ILCs express MHC class II and can present peptide Ag in vitro. Importantly, cotransfer experiments show that type 2 ILCs also can boost CD4+ T cell responses to Ag in vivo.

IL-33, a new member of the IL-1 family cytokine, is involved in Th2-type responses in a wide range of diseases and signals through the ST2 receptor expressed on many immune cells. Since the effects of IL-33 on DCs remain controversial, we investigated the ability of IL-33 to modulate DC functions in vitro and in vivo. Here, we report that IL-33 activates myeloid DCs to produce IL-6, IL-1b, TNF, CCL17 and to express high levels of CD40, CD80 OX40L and CCR7. Importantly, IL-33-activated DCs prime naive lymphocytes to produce the Th2 cytokines IL-5 and IL-13, but not IL-4. In vivo, IL-33 exposure induces DC recruitment and activation in the lung. Using an OVA-induced allergic lung inflammation model, we demonstrate that the reduced airway inflammation in ST2-deficient mice correlates with the failure in DC activation and migration to the draining LN. Finally, we show that adoptive transfer of IL-33-activated DCs exacerbates lung inflammation in a DC-driven model of allergic airway inflammation. These data demonstrate for the first time that IL-33 activates DCs during antigen presentation and thereby drives a Th2-type response in allergic lung inflammation. IntroductionAllergic asthma is a chronic disorder characterized by eosinophilic airway inflammation, mucus hypersecretion, antigenspecific-IgE antibodies, airway remodeling and increased airway hyperreactivity [1,2]. The process of airway inflammation involves various cells types, such as eosinophils, mast cells, epithelial cells, lymphocytes and DCs. Th2 cells have been shown to play a predominant role in allergic asthma and Th2 cytokines, such as IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13, exacerbate disease severity [3,4]. IL-33, the recently discovered Th2 cytokine, is found at high levels in the plasma of asthmatic patients [5,6] and in the lungs of mice during experimental allergic asthma [7,8].IL-33 is a member of IL-1 family [9][10][11]. Like IL-1b or IL-18, IL-33 is synthesized as a precursor and can be cleaved by caspase-1 and 3 but the cleavage products are biologically less active than the precursor [12,13]. In contrast to the other IL-1 family members, IL-33 is mainly expressed in non-hematopoietic cells such as fibroblasts, epithelial cells and endothelial cells [10,14,15]. Because of its nuclear localization sequence, IL-33 is usually present in the nucleus, where it acts as a potential transcriptional repressor [16]. Recently, IL-33 has been shown to be released from necrotic cells and may act as an alarmin in a similar manner to IL-1a [17] or high mobility group box1 protein HMGB1 [18,19]. [14]. In accordance with its Th2 functions, administration of IL-33 into naive mice induces severe inflammation in the lung and digestive tract with elevated levels of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13, splenomegaly and increased serum Ig [10]. In vitro, IL-33 has also been reported to polarize naive CD4 1 T cells to produce IL-5 and IL-13, but not . Polarization of this atypical Th2 population is independent of IL-4, STAT6 and GATA3. On macrophages, IL-33 amplifies IL-13-mediated polarization...

IL-22 is required for the onset of allergic asthma, but functions as a negative regulator of established allergic inflammation. Our study reveals that IL-22 contributes to the proinflammatory properties of IL-17A in experimental allergic asthma.