Cb. Schmidt-weber et al., IL-4 enhances IL-10 gene expression in murine Th2 cells in the absence of TCR engagement, J IMMUNOL, 162(1), 1999, pp. 238-244
Both IL-4 and IL-10 are regulatory cytokines produced by Th2 cells that can
down-regulate cell-mediated immune responses. The studies reported here ex
amine the influence of various cytokines in the regulation of T cell IL-10
production. The results indicate that IL-10 gene expression by TCR transgen
ic Th2 cells is significantly up-regulated by IL-4 in the absence of TCR si
gnals, IL-4 enhances both IL-10 mRNA levels and secreted protein, and this
effect is not related to enhanced mRNA stability. TCR-mediated IL-10 gene e
xpression is inhibited by cyclosporin A, but IL-4-mediated IL-10 expression
is not, IL-4 also enhances IL-13 mRNA levels, to a lesser extent than IL-1
0, but does not significantly effect the expression of other cytokine mRNAs
, Furthermore, IL-4 does not significantly enhance IL-10 expression in Th1
cells, IL-2 also enhances effector cytokine production in the absence of TC
R signals, but in a subset nonspecific manner, increasing both Th2 IL-4 mRN
A and Th1 IFN-gamma mRNA, These data suggest that Th2 IL-4 production may c
ontribute to the down-regulation of immune responses by directly enhancing
Th2 IL-10 production. In addition, the data clearly demonstrate that exogen
ous cytokines can significantly influence effector cytokine production by e
ffector T cells without the requirement for TCR signals.