El copyright pertenece a The American Society for Clinical Investigation
CCR6 expression in dendritic, T, and B cells suggests that this b-chemokine receptor may regulate the migration and recruitment of antigen-presenting and immunocompetent cells during inflammatory
and immunological responses. Here we demonstrate that CCR6–/– mice have underdeveloped Peyer’s patches, in which the myeloid CD11b+ CD11c+ dendritic-cell subset is not present in the subepithelial
dome. CCR6–/– mice also have increased numbers in T-cell subpopulations within the intestinal mucosa. In 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene–induced contact hypersensitivity (CHS) studies, CCR6–/– mice developed more severe and more persistent inflammation than wild-type (WT) animals. Conversely, in a delayedtype
hypersensitivity (DTH) model induced with allogeneic splenocytes, CCR6–/– mice developed no inflammatory response. The altered responses seen in the CHS and DTH assays suggest the existence
of a defect in the activation and/or migration of the CD4+ T-cell subsets that downregulate or elicit the inflammation response, respectively. These findings underscore the role of CCR6 in cutaneous and
intestinal immunity and the utility of CCR6–/– mice as a model to study pathologies in these tissues.
Peer reviewed