%0 Journal Article
%T T Helper1/T Helper2 Cells and Resistance/Susceptibility to Leishmania Infection: Is This Paradigm Still Relevant?
%A James Alexander
%J Frontiers in Immunology
%D 2012
%I Frontiers Media
%R 10.3389/fimmu.2012.00080
%X Work in large part on Leishmania major in the 1980s identified two distinct apparently counter-regulatory CD4+ T cell populations, T helper (h)1 and Th2, that controlled resistance/susceptibility to infection respectively. However, the generation of IL-4£¿/£¿ mice in the 1990s questioned the paramount role of this Th2 archetypal cytokine in the non-healing response to Leishmania infection. The more recent characterization of CD4+ T cell regulatory populations and further effector CD4+ T helper populations, Th17, Th9, and T follicular (f)h cells as well as the acknowledged plasticity in T helper cell function has further added to the complexity of host pathogen interactions. These interactions are complicated by the multiplicity of cells that respond to CD4+ T cell subset signatory cytokines, as well as the diversity of Leishmania species that are often subject to significantly different immune-regulatory controls. In this article we review current knowledge with regard to the role of CD4+ T cells and their products during Leishmania infection. In particular we update on our studies using conditional IL-4R¦Á gene-deficient mice that have allowed dissection of the cell interplay dictating the disease outcomes of the major Leishmania species infecting humans.
%K Leishmania
%K T helper 1
%K T helper 2
%K T regulatory cells
%K T helper 17
%K T follicular helper cells
%K interleukin-4
%K interferon-gamma
%U http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00080/abstract