As part of the BSI’s international partnership with the Australia and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI), BSI runs a monthly article exchange between Discovery Immunology and ASI’s journal Immunology & Cell Biology (ICB), intended to foster collaboration and information sharing amongst the international immunology community
The highlighted article for September for Discovery Immunology is a study by Tyler et al and explores the influence of IL-21 on T cells: IL-21 conditions antigen-presenting human γδ T-cells to promote IL-10 expression in naïve and memory CD4+ T-cells. This study reveals that gamma delta T cells, when stimulated by IL-21, can induce IL-10 production from CD4 T cells, highlighting their key role in regulating immune responses in the intestine during microbial infection.
Below, Discovery Immunology's Editor-in-Chief Simon Milling shares his thoughts on why he chose this paper and its implications for future research in immunology.
"We are pleased to be publishing this elegant study. It identifies novel mechanisms by which gamma delta T cells interact with conventional CD4 T cells, to stimulate IL-10 production and therefore potentially regulate immune responses in the intestine. In the context of a microbial infection, gamma delta T cells were already known to be able to stimulate CD4 T cells to produce IL-22, to support the intestinal epithelial barrier.
In this paper, we learn that IL-21-stimulated gamma delta T cells are also able to induce large quantities of IL-10 from both naive and memory-type CD4 T cells. These exciting findings reinforce the central importance of gamma delta T cells in co-ordinating the complex responses required to maintain intestinal function while responding to the ever-present bacterial threat".
The full research article is free to read in Discovery Immunology here.
September's highlighted article for Immunology & Cell Biology can be read here.