Bronchial asthma (allergic asthma) is a bronchial allergic disease caused by a person who is allergic to an allergic substance (for example, a tick antigen) and inhales the antigen (tick antigen).Shows severe coughing and sometimes has difficulty breathing.

　In this study, we elucidated that a protein called GITR causes bronchial asthma through activation of type 2 innate lymphoid cells. Type 2 innate lymphoid cells are immune cells that are activated first when allergies occur, and it is known that allergies do not occur unless type 2 innate lymphoid cells are activated.Therefore, when bronchial asthma was induced in mice lacking the GITR protein by a drug, type 2 innate lymphoid cells were not activated and asthma did not occur.Furthermore, when a substance that inhibits GITR was developed and administered to mice, bronchial asthma was not induced by the drug.

　In recent years, therapeutic methods that attempt to cure allergies and cancer by artificially controlling the immune response have been attracting attention, and in particular, T cells, which are one of the immune cells, have been targeted for the development of therapeutic methods. ..On the other hand, in this study, the GITR protein, which was known as a molecule that controls the activation of T cells, is also present in type 2 innate lymphoid cells, which act differently from T cells, and in addition, the GITR protein is type 2. For the first time, it was elucidated that it is essential for the activation of innate lymphoid cells.

　The results of this research, which clarified the new mechanism of the onset of bronchial asthma, are expected to contribute to the development of new therapeutic methods targeting the GITR protein for allergic diseases including bronchial asthma.

Paper information:[Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology] GITR co-signal in ILC2 controls allergic lung inflammation