TLR2-mediated innate immune priming boosts lung anti-viral immunity

2020 ◽  
pp. 2001584
Author(s):  
Jason Girkin ◽  
Su-Ling Loo ◽  
Camille Esneau ◽  
Steven Maltby ◽  
Francesca Mercuri ◽  
...  

Research questionAssessment of whether TLR2 activation boosts the innate immune response to rhinovirus infection, as a treatment strategy for virus-induced respiratory diseases.MethodsWe employed treatment with a novel TLR2 agonist (INNA-X) prior to rhinovirus infection in mice, and INNA-X treatment in differentiated human bronchial epithelial cells derived from asthmatic-donors. We assessed viral load, immune cell recruitment, cytokines, type I and III IFN production, as well as the lung tissue and epithelial cell immune transcriptome.ResultsWe show in vivo, that a single INNA-X treatment induced innate immune priming characterised by low-level IFN-λ, Fas ligand, chemokine expression and airway lymphocyte recruitment. Treatment 7-days before infection significantly reduced lung viral load, increased IFN-β/λ expression and inhibited neutrophilic inflammation. Corticosteroid treatment enhanced the anti-inflammatory effects of INNA-X. Treatment 1-day before infection increased expression of 190 lung tissue immune genes. This tissue gene expression signature was absent with INNA-X treatment 7-days before infection, suggesting an alternate mechanism, potentially via establishment of immune cell-mediated mucosal innate immunity. In vitro, INNA-X treatment induced a priming response defined by upregulated IFN-λ, chemokine and anti-microbial gene expression that preceded an accelerated response to infection enriched for NF-κB-regulated genes and reduced viral loads, even in epithelial cells derived from asthmatic donors with intrinsic delayed anti-viral immune response.ConclusionAirway epithelial cell TLR2 activation induces prolonged innate immune priming, defined by early NF-κB activation, IFN-λ expression and lymphocyte recruitment. This response enhanced anti-viral innate immunity and reduced virus-induced airway inflammation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla V Rothlin ◽  
Sourav Ghosh

The immune system evolved for adequate surveillance and killing of pathogens while minimizing host damage, such as due to chronic or exaggerated inflammation and autoimmunity. This is achieved by negative regulators and checkpoints that limit the magnitude and time course of the immune response. Tumor cells often escape immune surveillance and killing. Therefore, disrupting the brakes built into the immune system should effectively boost the anticancer immune response. The success of anti-CTLA4, anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 have firmly established this proof of concept. Since the response rate of anti-CTLA4, anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 is still limited, there is an intense effort for the identification of new targets and development of approaches that can expand the benefits of immunotherapy to a larger patient pool. Additional T cell checkpoints are obvious targets; however, here we focus on the unusual suspects—cells that function to initiate and guide T cell activity. Innate immunity is both an obligate prerequisite for the initiation of adaptive immune responses and a requirement for the recruitment of activated T cells to the site of action. We discuss some of the molecules present in innate immune cells, including natural killer cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, endothelial cells and stromal cells, that can activate or enhance innate immune cell functions, and more importantly, the inhibitors or checkpoints present in these cells that restrain their functions. Boosting innate immunity, either by enhancing activator functions or, preferably, by blocking the inhibitors, may represent a new anticancer treatment modality or at least function as adjuvants to T cell checkpoint inhibitors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariana G. Bravo Cruz ◽  
Aiguo Han ◽  
Edward J. Roy ◽  
Arielle B. Guzmán ◽  
Rita J. Miller ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT All viruses strategically alter the antiviral immune response to their benefit. The vaccinia virus (VACV) K1 protein has multiple immunomodulatory effects in tissue culture models of infection, including NF-κB antagonism. However, the effect of K1 during animal infection is poorly understood. We determined that a K1L-less vaccinia virus (vΔK1L) was less pathogenic than wild-type VACV in intranasal and intradermal models of infection. Decreased pathogenicity was correlated with diminished virus replication in intranasally infected mice. However, in intradermally inoculated ears, vΔK1L replicated to levels nearly identical to those of VACV, implying that the decreased immune response to vΔK1L infection, not virus replication, dictated lesion size. Several lines of evidence support this theory. First, vΔK1L induced slightly less edema than vK1L, as revealed by histopathology and noninvasive quantitative ultrasound technology (QUS). Second, infiltrating immune cell populations were decreased in vΔK1L-infected ears. Third, cytokine and chemokine gene expression was decreased in vΔK1L-infected ears. While these results identified the biological basis for smaller lesions, they remained puzzling; because K1 antagonizes NF-κB in vitro, antiviral gene expression was expected to be higher during vΔK1L infection. Despite these diminished innate immune responses, vΔK1L vaccination induced a protective VACV-specific CD8+ T cell response and protected against a lethal VACV challenge. Thus, vΔK1L is the first vaccinia virus construct reported that caused a muted innate immune gene expression profile and decreased immune cell infiltration in an intradermal model of infection yet still elicited protective immunity. IMPORTANCE The vaccinia virus (VACV) K1 protein inhibits NF-κB activation among its other antagonistic functions. A virus lacking K1 (vΔK1L) was predicted to be less pathogenic because it would trigger a more robust antiviral immune response than VACV. Indeed, vΔK1L was less pathogenic in intradermally infected mouse ear pinnae. However, vΔK1L infection unexpectedly elicited dramatically reduced infiltration of innate immune cells into ears. This was likely due to decreased expression of cytokine and chemokine genes in vΔK1L-infected ears. As such, our finding contradicted observations from cell culture systems. Interestingly, vΔK1L conferred protective immunity against lethal VACV challenge. This suggests that the muted immune response triggered during vΔK1L infection remained sufficient to mount an effective protective response. Our results highlight the complexity and unpredictable nature of virus-host interactions, a relationship that must be understood to better comprehend virus pathogenesis or to manipulate viruses for use as vaccines.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzachi Hagai ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Ricardo J Miragaia ◽  
Tomás Gomes ◽  
Raghd Rostom ◽  
...  

SummaryAs the first line of defence against pathogens, cells mount an innate immune response, which is highly variable from cell to cell. The response must be potent yet carefully controlled to avoid self-damage. How these constraints have shaped the evolution of innate immunity remains poorly understood. Here, we characterise this programme’s transcriptional divergence between species and expression variability across cells. Using bulk and single-cell transcriptomics in primate and rodent fibroblasts challenged with an immune stimulus, we reveal a striking architecture of the innate immune response. Rapidly diverging genes, including cytokines and chemokines, also vary across cells and have distinct promoter structures. Conversely, genes involved in response regulation, such as transcription factors and kinases, are conserved between species and display low cell-to-cell variability. We suggest that this unique expression pattern, observed across species and conditions, has evolved as a mechanism for fine-tuned regulation, to achieve an effective but balanced response.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Włodarczyk ◽  
Magdalena Druszczyńska ◽  
Marek Fol

The concept of “trained innate immunity” is understood as the ability of innate immune cells to remember invading agents and to respond nonspecifically to reinfection with increased strength. Trained immunity is orchestrated by epigenetic modifications leading to changes in gene expression and cell physiology. Although this phenomenon was originally seen mainly as a beneficial effect, since it confers broad immunological protection, enhanced immune response of reprogrammed innate immune cells might result in the development or persistence of chronic metabolic, autoimmune or neuroinfalmmatory disorders. This paper overviews several examples where the induction of trained immunity may be essential in the development of diseases characterized by flawed innate immune response.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anissa Guillemin ◽  
Anuj Kumar ◽  
Mélanie Wencker ◽  
Emiliano P. Ricci

Innate immunity is the frontline of defense against infections and tissue damage. It is a fast and semi-specific response involving a myriad of processes essential for protecting the organism. These reactions promote the clearance of danger by activating, among others, an inflammatory response, the complement cascade and by recruiting the adaptive immunity. Any disequilibrium in this functional balance can lead to either inflammation-mediated tissue damage or defense inefficiency. A dynamic and coordinated gene expression program lies at the heart of the innate immune response. This expression program varies depending on the cell-type and the specific danger signal encountered by the cell and involves multiple layers of regulation. While these are achieved mainly via transcriptional control of gene expression, numerous post-transcriptional regulatory pathways involving RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and other effectors play a critical role in its fine-tuning. Alternative splicing, translational control and mRNA stability have been shown to be tightly regulated during the innate immune response and participate in modulating gene expression in a global or gene specific manner. More recently, microRNAs assisting RBPs and post-transcriptional modification of RNA bases are also emerging as essential players of the innate immune process. In this review, we highlight the numerous roles played by specific RNA-binding effectors in mediating post-transcriptional control of gene expression to shape innate immunity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2363
Author(s):  
Kornélia Bodó ◽  
Zoltán Kellermayer ◽  
Zoltán László ◽  
Ákos Boros ◽  
Bohdana Kokhanyuk ◽  
...  

Regeneration of body parts and their interaction with the immune response is a poorly understood aspect of earthworm biology. Consequently, we aimed to study the mechanisms of innate immunity during regeneration in Eisenia andrei earthworms. In the course of anterior and posterior regeneration, we documented the kinetical aspects of segment restoration by histochemistry. Cell proliferation peaked at two weeks and remitted by four weeks in regenerating earthworms. Apoptotic cells were present throughout the cell renewal period. Distinct immune cell (e.g., coelomocyte) subsets were accumulated in the newly-formed blastema in the close proximity of the apoptotic area. Regenerating earthworms have decreased pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) (e.g., TLR, except for scavenger receptor) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) (e.g., lysenin) mRNA patterns compared to intact earthworms. In contrast, at the protein level, mirroring regulation of lysenins became evident. Experimental coelomocyte depletion caused significantly impaired cell divisions and blastema formation during anterior and posterior regeneration. These obtained novel data allow us to gain insight into the intricate interactions of regeneration and invertebrate innate immunity.


2006 ◽  
Vol 291 (2) ◽  
pp. C218-C230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry E. Machen

The lack of functional cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in the apical membranes of CF airway epithelial cells abolishes cAMP-stimulated anion transport, and bacteria, eventually including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, bind to and accumulate in the mucus. Flagellin released from P. aeruginosa triggers airway epithelial Toll-like receptor 5 and subsequent NF-κB signaling and production and release of proinflammatory cytokines that recruit neutrophils to the infected region. This response has been termed hyperinflammatory because so many neutrophils accumulate; a response that damages CF lung tissue. We first review the contradictory data both for and against the idea that epithelial cells exhibit larger-than-normal proinflammatory signaling in CF compared with non-CF cells and then review proposals that might explain how reduced CFTR function could activate such proinflammatory signaling. It is concluded that apparent exaggerated innate immune response of CF airway epithelial cells may have resulted not from direct effects of CFTR on cellular signaling or inflammatory mediator production but from indirect effects resulting from the absence of CFTRs apical membrane channel function. Thus, loss of Cl−, HCO3−, and glutathione secretion may lead to reduced volume and increased acidification and oxidation of the airway surface liquid. These changes concentrate proinflammatory mediators, reduce mucociliary clearance of bacteria and subsequently activate cellular signaling. Loss of apical CFTR will also hyperpolarize basolateral membrane potentials, potentially leading to increases in cytosolic [Ca2+], intracellular Ca2+, and NF-κB signaling. This hyperinflammatory effect of CF on intracellular Ca2+and NF-κB signaling would be most prominently expressed during exposure to both P. aeruginosa and also endocrine, paracrine, or nervous agonists that activate Ca2+signaling in the airway epithelia.


2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 2677-2688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul G. Tiffen ◽  
Nader Omidvar ◽  
Nuria Marquez-Almuina ◽  
Dawn Croston ◽  
Christine J. Watson ◽  
...  

Abstract Recent studies in breast cancer cell lines have shown that oncostatin M (OSM) not only inhibits proliferation but also promotes cell detachment and enhances cell motility. In this study, we have looked at the role of OSM signaling in nontransformed mouse mammary epithelial cells in vitro using the KIM-2 mammary epithelial cell line and in vivo using OSM receptor (OSMR)-deficient mice. OSM and its receptor were up-regulated approximately 2 d after the onset of postlactational mammary regression, in response to leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)-induced signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3). This resulted in sustained STAT3 activity, increased epithelial apoptosis, and enhanced clearance of epithelial structures during the remodeling phase of mammary involution. Concurrently, OSM signaling precipitated the dephosphorylation of STAT5 and repressed expression of the milk protein genes β-casein and whey acidic protein (WAP). Similarly, during pregnancy, OSM signaling suppressed β-casein and WAP gene expression. In vitro, OSM but not LIF persistently down-regulated phosphorylated (p)-STAT5, even in the continued presence of prolactin. OSM also promoted the expression of metalloproteinases MMP3, MMP12, and MMP14, which, in vitro, were responsible for OSM-specific apoptosis. Thus, the sequential activation of IL-6-related cytokines during mammary involution culminates in an OSM-dependent repression of epithelial-specific gene expression and the potentiation of epithelial cell extinction mediated, at least in part, by the reciprocal regulation of p-STAT5 and p-STAT3.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document