First Author | Butler NS | Year | 2002 |
Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 169 |
Issue | 7 | Pages | 3700-9 |
PubMed ID | 12244163 | Mgi Jnum | J:79180 |
Mgi Id | MGI:2387474 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.169.7.3700 |
Citation | Butler NS, et al. (2002) Altered IL-4 mRNA Stability Correlates with Th1 and Th2 Bias and Susceptibility to Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis in Two Inbred Strains of Mice. J Immunol 169(7):3700-9 |
abstractText | Previously, we have shown in a model of hypersensitivity pneumonitis that Th1-biased C57BL/6 mice are susceptible and Th2-biased DBA/2 mice are resistant to disease. We also showed that this was explained in part by differential regulation of IL-12 by IL-4. For these reasons, we postulated that C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice differentially express IL-4. In this study, we show that C57BL/6 immune cells express Th2 but not Th1 cytokines at lower levels than DBA/2 cells. We also found that C57BL/6 splenocytes exhibit decreased mRNA stability of Th2 cytokines, relative to DBA/2 splenocytes. Stability of IL-2 and IFN-gamma were similar in the two strains of mice. Differences in Th2 cytokine mRNA stability between C57BL/6 and DBA/2 cells were not due to sequence polymorphism at specific regions of the IL-4/IL-13 locus. Furthermore, expression of Th1- and Th2-specific transcription factors T-bet and GATA-3, as well as the nuclear factor of activated T cells transcription factor, NFATc, was not significantly different between the two mice. Our data suggest that decreased mRNA stability of Th2 cytokines in C57BL/6 splenocytes may underlie the differential susceptibility to hypersensitivity pneumonitis between C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice. Moreover, our results indicate that regulation of mRNA stability may serve as an important mechanism underlying Th1/Th2 immune polarization. |