title: Interleukin (IL)-4 inhibits IL-10 to promote IL-12 production by dendritic cells.
abstract: Interleukin (IL)-4 is known to be the most potent cytokine that can initiate Th2 cell differentiation. Paradoxically, IL-4 instructs dendritic cells (DCs) to promote Th1 cell differentiation. We investigated the mechanisms by which IL-4 directs CD4 T cells toward the Th1 cell lineage. Our study demonstrates that the IL-4-mediated induction of Th1 cell differentiation requires IL-10 production by DCs. IL-4 treatment of DCs in the presence of lipopolysaccharide or CpG resulted in decreased production of IL-10, which was accompanied by enhanced IL-12 production. In IL-10-deficient DCs, the level of IL-12 was greatly elevated and, more importantly, the ability of IL-4 to up-regulate IL-12 was abrogated. Interestingly, IL-4 inhibited IL-10 production by DCs but not by B cells. The down-regulation of IL-10 gene expression by IL-4 depended on Stat6 and was at least partly caused by decreased histone acetylation of the IL-10 promoter. These data indicate that IL-4 plays a key role in inducing Th1 cell differentiation by instructing DCs to produce less IL-10.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
authors.forename: Yongxue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Cheong-Hee
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology*; D047369:Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; D017931:DNA Primers; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology*; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000378:metabolism*; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008156:Luciferases; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D050800:STAT6 Transcription Factor; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D006657:Histones; D050800:STAT6 Transcription Factor; C494100:Stat6 protein, mouse; D015534:Trans-Activators; D016753:Interleukin-10; D018664:Interleukin-12; D015847:Interleukin-4; D008156:Luciferases