Epithelial Cell-Derived IL-25, but Not Th17 Cell-Derived IL-17 or IL-17F, Is Crucial for Murine Asthma

IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-25 are ligands for IL-17RA. In the current study, we demonstrated that IL-25–deficient mice—but not IL-17A–, IL-17F–, IL-17A/F–, IL-23p19–, or retinoic acid-related orphan receptor (ROR)-γt–deficient mice—showed significant suppression of 1) the number of eosinophils and the levels of proinflammatory mediators in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, 2) airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine, and 3) OVA-specific IgG1 and IgE levels in the serum during OVA-induced Th2-type/eosinophilic airway inflammation. The IL-25 deficiency did not affect lung dendritic cell migration or Ag-specific memory–Th2 cell expansion during Ag sensitization. Adoptive transfer of T cells, mast cells, or bone marrow cells from IL-25–deficient mice revealed that induction of Th2-type/eosinophilic airway inflammation was dependent on activation of lung epithelial cells and eosinophils by IL-25 produced by airway structural cells such as epithelial cells but not by such hematopoietic stem-cell-origin immune cells as T cells and mast cells. Therefore, airway structural cell-derived IL-25—rather than Th17 cell-derived IL-17A and IL-17F—is responsible for induction of local inflammation by promoting activation of lung epithelial cells and eosinophils in the elicitation phase of Th2-type/eosinophilic airway inflammation. It is not required for Ag-specific Th2 cell differentiation in the sensitization phase.