Cutting edge: chromatin remodeling at the IL-4/IL-13 intergenic regulatory region for Th2-specific cytokine gene cluster

During the differentiation of naive Th cells into Th2 effector cells, the entire IL-4/IL-13 locus is remodeled into an accessible chromatin conformation. Here we show that ectopic expression and activation of Stat6 or GATA-3 in Th cells developing under Th1-polarizing conditions lead to the induction of chromatin remodeling not only at the flanking regions of the IL-4 and IL-13 genes but also at the IL-4/IL-13 intergenic regulatory region for the IL-4/IL-13/IL-5 gene cluster. Furthermore, we demonstrate that GATA-3 and another Th2-specific, inducible protein complex interact with the IL-4/IL-13 intergenic DNase I hypersensitive region specifically in Th2 cells.