Pathological role of large intestinal IL-12p40 for the induction of Th2-type allergic diarrhea

IL-12 consists of two disulfide-linked subunits, p40 and p35, that form functionally active heterodimers for the induction of Th1 cells. In contrast to IL-12 heterodimers, p40 monomers and homodimers possess inhibitory effects on Th1 cells leading to the creation of a Th2 environment. Although it has been shown that IL-12p40 acts as antagonist of IL-12p70 in vitro, no evidence is currently available whether IL-12p40 is functional in vivo. We now report that IL-12p40 plays an important pathological role in anintestinal allergic disease. A high expression of IL-12p40 protein was demonstrated in epithelial cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages in large but not small intestine of allergic diarrhea-induced mice. Interestingly, neutralization with anti-IL-12p40 mAbs reduced the incidence and delayed the onset of disease development. Lower levels of ovalbumin (OVA)-specific IgE Abs in serum were detected in anti-IL-12p40 mAb-treated mice than in control Ab-treated mice. The secretion of Th2 cytokines and eotaxin by the mononuclear cells isolated from the large intestine of anti-IL-12p40 mAb-treated mice was significantly decreased. Finally, the removal of the IL-12p40 gene resulted in complete inhibition of disease development. These results show that over-expression of IL-12p40 is an important contributing factor for the generation of the dominant Th2-type environment in the large intestine of mice with allergic diarrhea.