Chemokines are chemotactic cytokines that control the migratory patterns and positioning of all immune cells. Although chemokines were initially appreciated as important mediators of acute inflammation, we now know that this complex system of approximately 50 endogenous chemokine ligands and 20 G protein–coupled seven-transmembrane signaling receptors is also critical for the generation of primary and secondary adaptive cellular and humoral immune responses. Recent studies demonstrate important roles for the chemokine system in the priming of naive T cells, in cell fate decisions such as effector and memory cell differentiation, and in regulatory T cell function. In this review, we focus on recent advances in understanding how the chemokine system orchestrates immune cell migration and positioning at the organismic level in homeostasis, in acute inflammation, and during the generation and regulation of adoptive primary and secondary immune responses in the lymphoid system and peripheral nonlymphoid tissue.

Chemokines and Chemokine Receptors: Positioning Cells for Host Defense and Immunity

The IL-10 family of cytokines consists of nine members: IL-10, IL-19, IL-20, IL-22, IL-24, IL-26, and the more distantly related IL-28A, IL-28B, and IL-29. Evolutionarily, IL-10 family cytokines emerged before the adaptive immune response. These cytokines elicit diverse host defense mechanisms, especially from epithelial cells, during various infections. IL-10 family cytokines are essential for maintaining the integrity and homeostasis of tissue epithelial layers. Members of this family can promote innate immune responses from tissue epithelia to limit the damage caused by viral and bacterial infections. These cytokines can also facilitate the tissue-healing process in injuries caused by infection or inflammation. Finally, IL-10 itself can repress proinflammatory responses and limit unnecessary tissue disruptions caused by inflammation. Thus, IL-10 family cytokines have indispensable functions in many infectious and inflammatory diseases.

Regulation and Functions of the IL-10 Family of Cytokines in Inflammation and Disease

CD4+ T cells are critical for host defense but are also major drivers of immune-mediated disease. These T cells specialize to become distinct subsets and produce restricted patterns of cytokines, which are tailored to combat various microbial pathogens. Although classically viewed as distinct lineages, recent work calls into question whether helper CD4+ T cell subsets are more appropriately viewed as terminally differentiated cells or works in progress. Herein, we review recent advances that pertain to this topic and the mechanisms that contribute to helper CD4+ T cell commitment and plasticity. The therapeutic implications of these new findings are also considered.

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Mechanisms underlying lineage commitment and plasticity of helper CD4+ T cells.

Human skin and its immune cells provide essential protection of the human body from injury and infection. Recent studies reinforce the importance of keratinocytes as sensors of danger through alert systems such as the inflammasome. In addition, newly identified CD103(+) dendritic cells are strategically positioned for cross-presentation of skin-tropic pathogens and accumulating data highlight a key role of tissue-resident rather than circulating T cells in skin homeostasis and pathology. This Review focuses on recent progress in dissecting the functional role of skin immune cells in skin disease.

Skin immune sentinels in health and disease

Th subsets are defined according to their production of lineage-indicating cytokines and functions. In this study, we have identified a subset of human Th cells that infiltrates the epidermis in individuals with inflammatory skin disorders and is characterized by the secretion of IL-22 and TNF-alpha, but not IFN-gamma, IL-4, or IL-17. In analogy to the Th17 subset, cells with this cytokine profile have been named the Th22 subset. Th22 clones derived from patients with psoriasis were stable in culture and exhibited a transcriptome profile clearly separate from those of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells; it included genes encoding proteins involved in tissue remodeling, such as FGFs, and chemokines involved in angiogenesis and fibrosis. Primary human keratinocytes exposed to Th22 supernatants expressed a transcriptome response profile that included genes involved in innate immune pathways and the induction and modulation of adaptive immunity. These proinflammatory Th22 responses were synergistically dependent on IL-22 and TNF-alpha. Furthermore, Th22 supernatants enhanced wound healing in an in vitro injury model, which was exclusively dependent on IL-22. In conclusion, the human Th22 subset may represent a separate T cell subset with a distinct identity with respect to gene expression and function, present within the epidermal layer in inflammatory skin diseases. Future strategies directed against the Th22 subset may be of value in chronic inflammatory skin disorders.

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Th22 cells represent a distinct human T cell subset involved in epidermal immunity and remodeling

Helper T cells become polarized to effect a 'division of labor'. Sallusto and Spits and colleagues identify a new subset of skin-homing helper T cells, TH-22 cells, that secrete interleukin 22.

Production of interleukin 22 but not interleukin 17 by a subset of human skin-homing memory T cells

The enormous diversity of the naive T cell repertoire is instrumental in generating an immune response to virtually any foreign antigen that can be processed into peptides that bind to MHC molecules. The low frequency of antigen-specific naive T cells, their high activation threshold, and the constrains of antigen-processing and presentation have hampered analysis of naive repertoires to complex protein antigens. In this study, libraries of polyclonally expanded naive T cells were used to determine frequency and antigen dose–response of human naive CD4+ T cells specific for a variety of antigens and to isolate antigen-specific T cell clones. In the naive repertoire, T cells specific for primary antigens, such as KLH and Bacillus anthracis protective antigen, and for recall antigens, such as tetanus toxoid, cytomegalovirus, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis purified protein derivative, were detected at frequencies ranging from 5 to 170 cells per 106 naive T cells. Antigen concentrations required for half-maximal response (EC50) varied over several orders of magnitude for different naive T cells. In contrast, in the memory repertoire, T cells specific for primary antigens were not detected, whereas T cells specific for recall antigens were detected at high frequencies and displayed EC50 values in the low range of antigen concentrations. The method described may find applications for evaluation of vaccine candidates, for testing antigenicity of therapeutic proteins, drugs, and chemicals, and for generation of antigen-specific T cell clones for adoptive cellular immunotherapy.

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Human naive and memory CD4+ T cell repertoires specific for naturally processed antigens analyzed using libraries of amplified T cells

Tumor progression is accompanied by fibrosis, which is associated with diminished anti-tumor immune infiltrate. Here, we demonstrate that tumor infiltrating myeloid cells respond to the stiffened fibrotic tumor microenvironment (TME) by initiating a TGF-beta (TGFβ)-directed, collagen biosynthesis program. A collateral effect of this programming is an untenable metabolic milieu for productive CD8 T cell anti-tumor responses, as collagen-synthesizing macrophages consume environmental arginine, synthesize proline, and secrete ornithine that compromises CD8+ T cell function. Thus, a stiff and fibrotic TME may impede anti-tumor immunity not only by direct physical exclusion of CD8+ T cells, but also via secondary effects of a myeloid mechano-metabolic programming we identified that creates an inhospitable metabolic milieu for CD8+ T cells.

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Rebekka Geiger

Papers

Production of interleukin 22 but not interleukin 17 by a subset of human skin-homing memory T cells

Human naive and memory CD4+ T cell repertoires specific for naturally processed antigens analyzed using libraries of amplified T cells

Myeloid mechano-metabolic programming restricts anti-tumor immunity