Regulation of type-2 immunity against the hookworm Nippostrongylus brasiliensis via TREM-2

Parasitic helminths infect between 2-3 billion people worldwide and the diseases caused\ud by these organisms result in morbidity, anemia, malnutrition, and cognitive impairment.\ud Although treatments are effective in removing ongoing infections, current therapeutics do\ud not prevent re-infection nor lead to the development of immune protective memory\ud responses. Better understanding of immune responses and identifying host-derived\ud molecules driving robust Type-2 immunity is necessary. This study focused on triggering\ud receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2 (TREM-2). We address the necessity of TREM-2\ud expression is for the generation of host protective responses in gastrointestinal\ud nematode, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (N.b.), infected mice. We found that TREM-2\ud deficient mice had defected ability to expel N.b. adult worms from the intestinal lumen\ud (p<0.01), elevated IL-5 and IL-6 levels as determined by ELISA and QRT-PCR (p