IL-9 is a key component of memory TH cell peanut-specific responses from children with peanut allergy

Background Differentiation between patients with peanut allergy (PA) and those with peanut sensitization (PS) who tolerate peanut but have peanut-specific IgE, positive skin prick test responses, or both represents a significant diagnostic difficulty. Previously, gene expression microarrays were successfully used to identify biomarkers and explore immune responses during PA immunotherapy. Objective We aimed to characterize peanut-specific responses from patients with PA, subjects with PS, and atopic children without peanut allergy (NA children). Methods A preliminary exploratory microarray investigation of gene expression in peanut-activated memory T H subsets from 3 children with PA and 3 NA children identified potential PA diagnostic biomarkers. Microarray findings were confirmed by using real-time quantitative PCR in 30 subjects (12 children with PA, 12 children with PS, and 6 NA children). Flow cytometry was used to identify the T H subsets involved. Results Among 12,257 differentially expressed genes, IL9 showed the greatest difference between children with PA and NA children (45.59-fold change, P IL5 and then IL13 . Notably, IL9 allowed the most accurate classification of children with PA and NA children by using a machine-learning approach with recursive feature elimination and the random forest algorithm. Skin- and gut-homing T H cells from donors with PA expressed similar T H 2- and T H 9-associated genes. Real-time quantitative PCR confirmed that IL9 was the highest differentially expressed gene between children with PA and NA children (23.3-fold change, P P H 2-specific cytokine IL-5 are produced by distinct T H populations. Conclusion In this study IL9 best differentiated between children with PA and children with PS (and atopic NA children). Mutually exclusive production of IL-9 and the T H 2-specific cytokine IL-5 suggests that the IL-9–producing cells belong to the recently described T H 9 subset.