IL-4 Expression By Mast Cells Modifies The Immune Response In Multiple Sclerosis

Main Category: Immune System / Vaccines
Also Included In: Multiple Sclerosis;  Allergy
Article Date: 23 Apr 2006 - 17:00 PDT

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IL-4 is expressed by many types of immune cells and it can act on a variety of other immune as well as non-immune cells to modulate the immune response. This broad range of effects necessitates strict control of IL-4 expression as inappropriate IL-4 expression is associated with allergic disease, autoimmunity, and an inability to clear some infections.

In a study appearing online in April, in advance of print publication in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Melissa Brown and colleagues demonstrate that IL-4 expression by mast cells is regulated by proteins known as Ikaros and GATA, and this expression contributes to the development of a multiple sclerosis-like autoimmune disease in mice. Interestingly, the authors found that IL-4 expression by mast cells differed in different strains of mice. In sum, the study further points to the role of the mast cell in sophisticated gene regulation relevant to the immune response.

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TITLE: Mast cell IL-4 expression is regulated by Ikaros and influences encephalitogenc Th1 responses in EAE

AUTHOR CONTACT: Melissa A. Brown Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=27227

Contact: Brooke Grindlinger
Journal of Clinical Investigation

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