BHLHE40 Promotes T H 2 Cell-Mediated Antihelminth Immunity and Reveals Cooperative CSF2RB Family Cytokines.

The transcription factor BHLHE40 is an emerging regulator of the immune system. Recent studies suggest that BHLHE40 regulates type 2 immunity, but this has not been demonstrated in vivo. We found that BHLHE40 is required in T cells for a protective T _H 2 cell response in mice infected with the helminth Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri H. polygyrus elicited changes in gene and cytokine expression by lamina propria CD4 ⁺ T cells, many of which were BHLHE40 dependent, including production of the common β (CSF2RB) chain family cytokines GM-CSF and IL-5. In contrast to deficiency in GM-CSF or IL-5 alone, loss of both GM-CSF and IL-5 signaling impaired protection against H. polygyrus Overall, we show that BHLHE40 regulates the T _H 2 cell transcriptional program during helminth infection to support normal expression of Csf2 , Il5 , and other genes required for protection and reveal unexpected redundancy of common β chain-dependent cytokines previously thought to possess substantially divergent functions.
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