0000000000331702
AUTHOR
Melanie Flach
Adipose Tissue: ILC2 Crank Up the Heat
White-to-beige conversion of adipocytes is one of the most promising approaches to therapeutically target obesity; however, the signals driving this process had largely remained unclear. Recently, two publications, Brestoff et al. (2014) in Nature and Lee et al. (2015) in Cell, showed that group 2 innate lymphoid cells directly regulate adipocyte differentiation and drive the growth of beige fat.
Differentiation of Type 1 ILCs from a Common Progenitor to All Helper-like Innate Lymphoid Cell Lineages
SummaryInnate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a recently recognized group of lymphocytes that have important functions in protecting epithelial barriers against infections and in maintaining organ homeostasis. ILCs have been categorized into three distinct groups, transcriptional circuitry and effector functions of which strikingly resemble the various T helper cell subsets. Here, we identify a common, Id2-expressing progenitor to all interleukin 7 receptor-expressing, “helper-like” ILC lineages, the CHILP. Interestingly, the CHILP differentiated into ILC2 and ILC3 lineages, but not into conventional natural killer (cNK) cells that have been considered an ILC1 subset. Instead, the CHILP gave rise…
Development of Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissues
The intestinal mucosa is one of our largest and most exposed body surfaces, thus creating a vital need for efficient immune responses. In order to coordinate those, the mucosal immune system comprises several organized lymphoid structures; the best-studied ones are mesenteric lymph nodes, Peyer’s patches, cryptopatches, and isolated lymphoid follicles. Their developmental requirements and time frames overlap to a certain extent, but are greatly divergent in many aspects. Furthermore, they can be influenced by a number of environmental impacts, such as food or the intestinal microbiota. In the following chapter we will try to shed some light on the processes that occur during the development…