IL-33 Exacerbates Eosinophil-Mediated Airway Inflammation

IL-33 has emerged as an important mediator in the immunopathogenesis of allergy and asthma. However, the role of IL-33 in eosinophil-mediated inflammation has not been fully explored. In this article, we report that IL-33 directly stimulates eosinophil differentiation from CD117(+) progenitors in an IL-5-dependent manner. Although resting eosinophils expressed moderate levels of the IL-33R alpha-chain (ST2L), eosinophils that accumulated in the airways of mice with OVA-induced asthma expressed increased amounts of ST2L. In vitro, IL-33 and GM-CSF are potent inducers of ST2L expression on eosinophils, and IL-33 induced the production of IL-13, CCL17, and TGF-beta by eosinophils. In adoptive-transfer experiments, IL-33 exacerbated eosinophil-mediated airway inflammation by increasing the levels of eosinophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, IL-13, TGF-beta, CCL3, CCL17, and CCL24 in the lungs. IL-33 also enhanced the eosinophil-mediated differentiation of airway macrophages toward the alternatively activated macrophage phenotype in an IL-13-dependent manner. Taken together, this study demonstrates that the IL-33/ST2 signaling pathway activates airway eosinophils that exacerbate airway inflammation in an autocrine and paracrine manner.