Innate lymphoid cells in the upper airways: importance of CD117 and IL-1RI expression

What is it about?

Our data unveil for the first time that the CD117- and the CD117+ fractions within the human ILC2 population are not just random phenomena and that the IL-1RI expression is not ubiquitous in ILC2s. Both are affected by local tissue conditions present under the specific inflammatory conditions. This contrast the apparently random existence of CD117+/- and IL1RI+/- ILC2s as could be interpreted from the current knowledge in the literature. We furthermore show the importance of assessing freshly resected human ILCs for assessing their function in human diseases; our results show that the specific phenotype of ILCs relies on the local tissue conditions inherent to the different pathologies and that the characteristics of the ILCs in different pathologies cannot be assessed by means of in vitro approaches using cultured cells and artificial stimulation methods. Our results furthermore point up the importance of detailed reporting and analysis of the patients’ clinical data in order to make correct interpretations.

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