Figure 5: Following allergen sensing, FctR1⁺ nociceptor neurons drive T_H2 cell polarization.

In comparison to naïve, T_H1, T_H17, iTreg and Treg (A), or naïve CD4 T cells (B), T_H2 cells (A; In-silico analysis of Immgen’s RNA sequencing data) or BALF CD4 T cells harvested from OVA-challenged mice (day 15; B) showed increased Tacrl transcript expression (A, B). Purified naïve CD4 spleen cells were polarized into T_H2 cells and then either: co-cultured with allergen-sensitized mice JNC neurons (beige bar), stimulated with conditioned media harvested from IC-stimulated allergen-sensitized JNC neurons (blue bar) or with Substance P (C-E; gray bar). In comparison to IgE-OVA-stimulated T_H2 cells, T_H2 cells co-cultured with neurons then stimulated with neuron-conditioned media or Substance P, showed increased levels of IL-5⁺ (C), IL-13⁺ (D), and IL-5+IL-13⁺ (E). Mean ± S.E.M; Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test (B-E). Transcript expression are shown as DESeq2 normalized counts (A). Stimulation and co-culture were done in the presence of a cocktail of protease inhibitors (1/1000; C-E); n = 5–6 animals/group, 2 cohorts.