The role of immune cells in asthma

Researchers from Sydney’s Centenary Institute have discovered a pathway that may be vital for our understanding of allergic asthma - the prevalent form of childhood-onset asthma affecting 2 million Australians.

Published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the new study looked at the function of lung-based immune cells known as group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s). ILC2s produce a molecule called IL-13, which is responsible for driving the mucous production in the lungs that can block the airways in asthma.

Lead author Dr Ben Roediger.

Little was known about how these ILC2 cells are regulated, with the authors initially stating “the upstream signals that regulate ILC2 function during pulmonary inflammation remain poorly understood”. Their study found that ILC2s in the lungs are regulated by another molecule called IL-2.

IL-2 promotes the survival and proliferation of ILC2s and increases their ability to produce molecules in response to damage and infection, particularly IL-13. Lead author Dr Ben Roediger said the research is the first in vivo study to demonstrate this molecular pathway in the lungs.

“This study lends new light into how different immune cells may interact with one another in the lungs, which could have important implications for our understanding of asthma - particularly allergic asthma,” Dr Roediger said.

“The better we understand the different pathways that regulate the immune system in the body, the closer we come to understanding how certain inflammatory diseases arise.”