Labs around the world, and a core group at Penn, have been studying recently described populations of immune cells called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). Some researchers liken them to foot soldiers that protect boundary tissues such as the skin, the lining of the lung, and the lining of the gut from microbial onslaught. They also have shown they play a role in inflammatory disease, when the body’s immune system is too active.

In animal studies, group-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) confer immunity during a parasitic infection in mice and are also involved in allergic airway inflammation. A team of Perelman School of Medicine, researchers from the Departments of Medicine, Microbiology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Cancer Biology, found that maturation of ILC2s requires T-cell factor 1 (TCF-1, the product of the Tcf7 gene) to move forward. TCF-1 is protein that binds to specific parts of DNA to control transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA.

Avinash Bhandoola, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Qi Yang, PhD, a postdoc in the Bhandoola lab, describe in Immunity that one mechanism used to build ILCs is the same as that in T cells. Both cell types use a protein pathway centered on Notch that the lab of coauthor Warren Pear, MD, PhD, also in the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has studied for the last two decades. Other contributing authors are from the laboratory of David Artis, PhD in Microbiology, that are experts in ILC function, and Angela Haczku, MD, PhD, in the Department of Medicine, who focuses on asthma. 

Click here to view the full release.