Grant: Project Grant

We have previously identified a unique population of lymphocytes, called group 2 innate lymphoid cell (ILC2) in mouse lungs. Although ILC2s do not directly recognize allergens, they are activated by inhaled allergens and produce a set of allergy-inducing proteins. We have shown that ILC2s are important for the development of allergic lung diseases including asthma. More recently, we have found that ILC2s remember previous activation by allergens and become memory ILC2s, which are more readily activated by allergens than naïve ILC2s. Therefore, we believe that memory ILC2s are important for asthma development. The goal of this research is to find out how memory ILC2s are generated and why they are highly responsive to allergens. We will also study whether activation or inhibition of lung ILC2s in very young ages affect the functions of lung ILC2s and allergy development in adulthood. Our knowledge of memory ILC2s will likely lead to novel treatments of asthma by inhibiting the generation of memory ILC2s or their functions.