Insulin receptor substrate-1/2 mediates IL-4-induced migration of human airway epithelial cells

Migration of airway epithelial cells (AEC) is an integral component of airway mucosal repair after injury. The inflammatory cytokine IL-4, abundant in chronic inflammatory airways diseases such as asthma, stimulates overproduction of mucins and secretion of chemokines from AEC; these actions enhance persistent airway inflammation. The effect of IL-4 on AEC migration and repair after injury, however, is not known. We examined migration in primary human AEC differentiated in air-liquid interface culture for 3 wk. Wounds were created by mechanical abrasion and followed to closure using digital microscopy. Concurrent treatment with IL-4 up to 10 ng/ml accelerated migration significantly in fully differentiated AEC. As expected, IL-4 treatment induced phosphorylation of the IL-4 receptor-associated protein STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription)6, a transcription factor known to mediate several IL-4-induced AEC responses. Expressing a dominant negative STAT6 cDNA delivered by lentivirus infection, however, failed to block IL-4-stimulated migration. In contrast, decreasing expression of either insulin receptor substrate (IRS)-1 or IRS-2 using a silencing hairpin RNA blocked IL-4-stimulated AEC migration completely. These data demonstrate that IL-4 can accelerate migration of differentiated AEC after injury. This reparative response does not require STAT6 activation, but rather requires IRS-1 and/or IRS-2.