Adaptive immunity to retroelements promotes barrier integrity.

ABSTRACT: Maintenance of tissue integrity is a requirement of host survival. This mandate is of prime importance at barrier sites that are constitutively exposed to the environment. Here, we show that exposure of the skin to non-inflammatory xenobiotics promotes tissue repair; more specifically, mild detergent exposure promotes the reactivation of defined retroelements leading to the induction of retroelement-specific CD8⁺ T cells. These T cell responses are Langerhans cell dependent and establish tissue residency within the skin. Upon injury, retroelement-specific CD8⁺ T cells significantly accelerate wound repair via IL-17A. Collectively, this work demonstrates that tonic environmental exposures and associated adaptive responses to retroelements can be coopted to preemptively set the tissue for maximal resilience to injury.

SUBMITTER: Wells AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11326312 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature