Innate lymphoid cells modulate iNKT cell immunity — ASN Events
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  3. Innate lymphoid cells modulate iNKT cell immunity

Innate lymphoid cells modulate iNKT cell immunity (#104)

Rebeca Jimeno 1 , Julia Saez de Guinoa 1 , Nazanin Farhadi 1 , Peter Jervis 2 , Liam R Cox 3 , Gurdyal S Besra 2 , Patricia Barral 1
  1. KINGS COLLEGE LONDON, LONDON, United Kingdom
  2. School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, Uk
  3. School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a family of immune cells that function as critical orchestrators of immune responses at mucosal surfaces. They can be classified into three different populations based on the expression of canonical transcription factors ILC1 (T-bet+), ILC2 (GATA3+) and ILC3 (RORĪ³t+). ILCs are emerging as central regulators of immunity as they are able to control the homeostasis and activation of a broad range of cells including B cells, dendritic cells, intestinal epithelial cells or conventional T cells. However, their possible contribution to lipid-dependent immune responses has never been explored. We have investigated whether ILCs participate in the regulation of iNKT cell immunity. We have found that murine ILCs from various tissues express CD1d, being ILC3 the population that express the highest levels of CD1d. ILC3s are able to internalize and present lipids on CD1d to iNKT cells inducing their activation. Conversely, crosslink of CD1d in vitro and administration of lipid antigen in vivo results in ILC3 activation and cytokine production. Our data identifies a novel ILC3-iNKT cell axis, which could function in a variety of immune responses where CD1d-dependent immunity plays a central role.