Decoy Receptors in the Regulation of T Helper Cell Type 2 Responses

Th2-driven responses are instrumental in disease processes including allergies, asthma, and helminth infection, and are characterized by the production of the cytokines IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13. These cytokines form a complex network of molecular and cellular interactions that mediate protective immunity not only to worm infection, but also to induce inappropriate inflammatory responses to allergic challenge. Given the clinical importance of these molecules, considerable effort has gone into attempting to identify the relative contributions of the major Th2 cyto-kines to such disease processes. It has become apparent that Th2 responses are highly complex and might be regulated at many levels through a multitude of pathways, including temporal and spatial regulation of both cytokine and cyto-kine receptor transcription and translation, so as to initiate an appropriate defense mechanism as well as return to a basal level once the infection has been controlled. Thus, during an...