Interleukin-17 Drives Pulmonary Eosinophilia following Repeated Exposure to Aspergillus fumigatus Conidia

Abstract

Previous research in our laboratory has demonstrated that repeated intranasal exposure to Aspergillus fumigatus conidia in C57BL/6 mice results in a chronic pulmonary inflammatory response that reaches its maximal level after four challenges. The inflammatory response is characterized by eosinophilia, goblet cell metaplasia, and T helper T(H)2 cytokine production, which is accompanied by sustained interleukin-17 (IL-17) expression that persists even after the T(H)2 response has begun to resolve. T(H)17 cells could develop in mice deficient in gamma interferon (IFN-γ), IL-4, or IL-10. In the lungs of IL-17 knockout mice repeatedly challenged with A. fumigatus conidia, inflammation was attenuated (with the most significant decrease occurring in eosinophils), conidial clearance was enhanced, and the early transient peak of CD4(+) CD25(+) FoxP3(+) cells blunted. IL-17 appeared to play only a minor role in eosinophil differentiation in the bone marrow but a central role in eosinophil extravasation from the blood into the lungs. These observations point to an expanded role for IL-17 in driving T(H)2-type inflammation to repeated inhalation of fungal conidia.