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Severe impairment of interleukin-1 and Toll-like receptor signalling in mice lacking IRAK-4

Nature volume 416, pages 750–754 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and members of the pro-inflammatory interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) family, share homologies in their cytoplasmic domains called Toll/IL-1R/plant R gene homology (TIR) domains1,2,3. Intracellular signalling mechanisms mediated by TIRs are similar4, with MyD88 (refs 5–8) and TRAF6 (refs 9, 10) having critical roles. Signal transduction between MyD88 and TRAF6 is known to involve the serine-threonine kinase IL-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK-1)11 and two homologous proteins, IRAK-2 (ref. 12) and IRAK-M13. However, the physiological functions of the IRAK molecules remain unclear, and gene-targeting studies have shown that IRAK-1 is only partially required for IL-1R and TLR signalling14,15. Here we show by gene-targeting that IRAK-4, an IRAK molecule closely related to the Drosophila Pelle protein16, is indispensable for the responses of animals and cultured cells to IL-1 and ligands that stimulate various TLRs. IRAK-4-deficient animals are completely resistant to a lethal dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In addition, animals lacking IRAK-4 are severely impaired in their responses to viral and bacterial challenges. Our results indicate that IRAK-4 has an essential role in innate immunity.

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Figure 1: Generation of Irak-4−/− mice.
Figure 2: Impaired responses to IL-1 in Irak-4−/− mice and cells.
Figure 3: Impaired responses to LPS in Irak-4−/− mice and cells.
Figure 4: Responses of Irak-4−/− mice and cells to TLR2, TLR3 and TLR9 ligands.
Figure 5: Response of Irak-4−/− mice to challenge with LCMV or S. aureus.
Figure 6: Requirement of IRAK-4 for signalling downstream of IL-1R or TLR engagement.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Richardson, S. Pownall, A. Suzuki, Y. Horie, M. Bonnard and S. Der for reagents and discussions. We also thank E. Lye, T. Horacek and S. Sugimoto for technical assistance, and M. Saunders for scientific editing. This work was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC), with funds from the Terry Fox Run (W.-C.Y.).

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  1. Nobutaka Suzuki, Shinobu Suzuki, Shyun Li and Holger Wesche: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amgen Institute, Ontario Cancer Institute and Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, 620 University Avenue, Suite 706, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2C1, Canada

    Nobutaka Suzuki, Shinobu Suzuki, Gordon S. Duncan, Teiji Wada, Christine Mirtsos, Hidetoshi Takada, Andrew Wakeham, Annick Itie, Josef M. Penninger, Tak W. Mak & Wen-Chen Yeh

  2. Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology, University of Toronto, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2M9, Canada

    Douglas G. Millar & Pamela S. Ohashi

  3. Tularik Incorporation, 2 Corporate Drive, South, San Francisco, California, 94080, USA

    Shyun Li & Holger Wesche

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Suzuki, N., Suzuki, S., Duncan, G. et al. Severe impairment of interleukin-1 and Toll-like receptor signalling in mice lacking IRAK-4. Nature 416, 750–754 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature736

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