A role for IL-4 in immunologically mediated enteropathy

A number of clinical enteropathies are associated with a local cell-mediated immune (CMI) response, and experimental evidence indicates that cytokines are responsible for the intestinal pathology. We show here that depletion of IL-4 using MoAb or a soluble form of the IL-4 receptor (IL-4R) prevents the jejunal manifestations of a proliferative form of murine graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) characterized by crypt hyperplasia and recruitment of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL). Depletion of IL-4 did not prevent the appearance of villus atrophy in a destructive model of GVHR, and had no effect on any indices of systemic immunity. These results indicate that IL-4 may play a selective role in mediating proliferative aspects of intestinal immunopathology, and suggest that this cytokine may provide a useful target for immunotherapy.