Gene expression data of naïve and activated ILC2s isolated from female and male mouse lungs

Epidemiological studies have shown sex differences in prevalence of non-allergic asthma. Recent reports demonstrated negative effects of androgen signaling on group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), explaining a potential mechanism behind sex bias in asthma prevalence. To further understand the difference in ILC2s based on sex, we have investigated the effects of sex and age on the number and function of lung ILC2s, and epithelium derived cytokines. Naive male and female mice of any ages tested did not differ in the number of ILC2s in the lung. Upon IL-33 injection, lung ILC2s in post puberty female mice responded more vigorously than male counterpart. Purified female lung ILC2s more rapidly produced cytokines than male mouse ILC2s. Gene expression profiles of naïve male and female ILC2s differed in 4% of the genes, and gene set enrichment analysis showed that female ILC2s are enriched for gene signatures of memory T cells. Epithelium-derived cytokines including IL-33 were more highly expressed in post puberty naïve female mouse lungs than male mouse lungs. However, the differences in responsiveness of male and female ILC2s were not affected in IL-33-deficient mice. Therefore, female ILC2s are more readily activated than male ILC2s, likely due to their similarity to memory T cells as suggested by the gene expression profiles. ILC2s were isolated from female and male lungs of naïve and IL-33 treated mice one day after three consecutive intranasal injections. RNA was extracted from three samples per group and analyzed for gene expression.