Interleukin-13 is a potent activator of JAK3 and STAT6 in cells expressing interleukin-2 receptor-γ and interleukin-4 receptor-α

The lymphocyte growth factors interleukin-2 (IL2), IL4, IL7, IL9 and IL15 use the common IL2 receptor-γ (IL2Rγ) and activate the IL2Rγ-associated tyrosine kinase JAK3 (Janus kinase 3). IL13 is structurally related to IL4, competes with IL4 for binding to cell surface receptors and exhibits many similar biological effects. The molecular basis for this functional overlap between IL4 and IL13 has been attributed mainly to a shared use of the 140 kDa IL4Rα, since these cytokines appear to be uniquely different in that, according to several recent reports, IL13 does not recruit the IL2Rγ or JAK3. This notion has been supported by the identification of a novel 70 kDa IL13 receptor in certain IL13-responsive cell lines that lack IL2Rγ. The present study sheds new light on the issue of functional overlap between IL13 and IL4, by demonstrating for the first time that, in cells that express both IL2Rγ and IL4Rα, IL13 can mimic IL4-induced heterodimerization of IL2Rγ and IL4Rα, with consequent marked activation of JAK3 and the transcription factor STAT6 (IL4-STAT). Reconstitution experiments in BA/F3 cells showed that both cytokines require the simultaneous presence of IL4Rα and IL2Rγ to mediate JAK3 and proliferative responses, and analysis of 12 IL4Rα variants showed that IL4 and IL13 signals were equally affected by mutations of the cytoplasmic domain. We conclude that IL13 activates the IL2Rγ-associated JAK3 tyrosine kinase in appropriate cell types, and propose that IL13 is capable of interacting with multiple receptor subunits in a cell-dependent and combinatorial manner. Consequently, we predict that partial disruption of IL13 signal transduction also contributes to the severe combined immunodeficiency syndromes associated with inactivation of the IL2Rγ or JAK3 genes.