Authors
J Allen1; 1 University of Manchester, UK Discussion
The rodent nematode Litomosoides sigmondontis, which dwells in the pleural cavity, provides a unique model to study the host immune response to filarial infection. Resistance to infection is known to require adaptive immunity and IL-4 receptor alpha (IL-4Ra) signalling. However, the specific mechanisms that are involved in killing tissue-dwelling nematodes remain poorly understood. We recently found that during infection T cells and IL-4ra signalling drive the conversion of monocytes into tissue resident macrophages, which are essential for infection control. Infected mice that are genetically altered such that they cannot establish GATA6+ resident macrophages phenotypically mirror susceptible strains of mice. Unexpectedly, we found that the absence of resident macrophages results in a dramatic decline in B cell numbers at the infection site. Further experiments have revealed a surprising interdependence between B cells and macrophages that determines infection outcome. 
