A tight regulation between the pro- and anti-inflammatory immune responses during plasmodial infection is of crucial importance, since a disruption leads to severe malaria pathology. IL-22 is a member of the IL-10 cytokine family, which is known to be highly important in immune regulation. We could detect high plasma levels of IL-22 in Plasmodium falciparum malaria as well as in Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA)-infected C57BL/6J mice. The deficiency of IL-22 in mice during PbA infection led to an earlier occurrence of cerebral malaria but is associated with a lower parasitemia compared to wt mice. Furthermore, at an early time point of infection T cells from PbA-infected Il22(-/-) mice showed an enhanced IFNγ but a diminished IL-17 production. Moreover, dendritic cells from Il22(-/-) mice expressed a higher amount of the costimulatory ligand CD86 upon infection. This finding can be corroborated in vitro since bone marrow-derived dendritic cells from Il22(-/-) mice are better inducers of an antigen-specific IFNγ response by CD8(+) T cells. Even though there is no IL-22 receptor complex known on hematopoietic cells, our data suggest a link between IL-22 and the adaptive immune system which is currently not identified.
