Unexpected involvement of IL-13 signalling via a STAT6 independent mechanism during murine IgG2a development following viral vaccination.

In this study, recombinant pox viral vaccination was shown to induce highly elevated IgG2a and low IgG1 antibody expression in mice lacking IL-4 or STAT6, whilst IL-13 mice exhibited elevated IgG1, but very low IgG2a. These findings revealed that IL-13 and IL-4 differentially regulated antibody development. To understand this further, when STAT6 mice were given a vaccine co-expressing IL-13Rα2 that temporarily sequestered IL-13, significantly reduced IgG2a expression, was detected.