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Innate lymphoid cells: major players in inflammatory diseases

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 17, pages 665–678 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are involved in many inflammatory disorders but appear to be redundant for protective immunity in humans under modern conditions of hygiene and medicine when T cell and B cell functions are preserved.

  • The plasticity of ILCs and their ability to adopt a pro-inflammatory ILC1-type profile is involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Crohn's disease.

  • ILC2s are involved in type 2 inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. They produce type 2 cytokines and interact with both immune and non-immune cell populations in the local tissue environment. ILC2s also contribute to fibrosis.

  • ILC3s are critical effector cells in the development of psoriasis.

  • Targeting and depleting ILCs could have therapeutic value in various inflammatory diseases in humans.

Abstract

Recent years have seen a marked increase in our understanding of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). ILCs can be classified into different groups based on their similarity to T cell subsets in terms of their expression of key transcription factors and cytokine production. Various immunological functions of ILCs have been described, and increasing numbers of studies have implicated these cells in inflammatory disorders. Here, we detail the roles of ILCs in inflammatory diseases; we cover type 2 inflammatory diseases (such as asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis and atopic dermatitis), as well as inflammatory bowel diseases, psoriasis and other systemic or organ-specific inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Future directions in the field are discussed, together with potential avenues of treatment.

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Figure 1: Classification of innate lymphoid cells.
Figure 2: Innate lymphoid cells are involved in various airway inflammatory disorders.
Figure 3: Innate lymphoid cells in the gut: a balance between homeostasis maintenance and the induction of inflammation.
Figure 4: Innate lymphoid cells in skin inflammation and repair.
Figure 5: Innate lymphoid cells: dual roles in inflammatory diseases and in the control of inflammation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, INSERM, Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France

    Mikaël Ebbo, Adeline Crinier, Frédéric Vély & Eric Vivier

  2. APHM, Hôpital de la Timone, Service de Médecine Interne, Marseille, France

    Mikaël Ebbo

  3. APHM, Hôpital de la Timone, Service d'Immunologie-Marseille Immunopôle, Marseille, France

    Frédéric Vély & Eric Vivier

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Correspondence to Eric Vivier.

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Competing interests

The laboratory is supported by grants from the European Research Council (TILC), Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Equipe labellisée “La Ligue” Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer, MSDAvenir, and Innate-Pharma and by institutional grants from INSERM, CNRS, and Aix-Marseille University to the CIML and Marseille Immunopole. E.V. is a co-founder of and shareholder in Innate-Pharma.

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Ebbo, M., Crinier, A., Vély, F. et al. Innate lymphoid cells: major players in inflammatory diseases. Nat Rev Immunol 17, 665–678 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2017.86

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