Project description:Group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) sense environmental signals that are critical for gut homeostasis and host defense. However, the metabolite-sensing G-protein-coupled receptors that regulate colonic ILC3s remain poorly understood. We found that colonic ILC3s expressed Ffar2, a microbial metabolite-sensing receptor, and that Ffar2 agonism promoted ILC3 expansion and function. Deletion of Ffar2 in ILC3s decreased their in situ proliferation and ILC3-derived IL-22 production. This led to impaired gut epithelial function characterized by altered mucus-associated proteins and antimicrobial peptides and increased susceptibility to colonic injury and bacterial infection. Ffar2 increased IL-22+ CCR6+ ILC3s and influenced ILC3 abundance in colonic lymphoid tissues. Ffar2 agonism differentially activated AKT or ERK signaling and increased ILC3-derived IL-22 via an AKT and STAT3 axis. Our findings demonstrate that Ffar2 regulates colonic ILC3 proliferation and function in a cell-intrinsic manner and identifies an ILC3-receptor signaling pathway regulating gut inflammatory tone and pathogen defense.
Project description:The maternal microbiota plays an important role in shaping and priming infant immunity, although the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these effects remain obscure. Here we report that prenatal antibiotic exposure caused significant elevation of group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) in neonatal lungs, in both cell numbers and functionality. Downregulation of type 1 interferon signaling in ILC2s caused by diminished production of microbiota-derived metabolite butyrate represents the underlying mechanism. Mice lacking butyrate receptor GPR41 (GPR41-/-) or type 1 interferon receptor (Ifnar1-/-) recapitulated the phenotype of neonatal ILC2s upon maternal antibiotic exposure. Furthermore, prenatal antibiotic exposure induced persistent epigenetic changes in ILC2s and had a long-lasting deteriorative effect on allergic airway inflammation in adulthood. Prenatal supplementation with butyrate ameliorated airway inflammation in adult offspring born to antibiotic-exposed dams. These observations demonstrate an essential role for the maternal microbiota in the control of type 2 innate immunity at the neonatal stage, which provides a therapeutic window for treating asthma in early life.
Project description:Immune protection of the body cavities depends on the swift activation of innate and adaptive immune responses in non-classical secondary lymphoid organs known as fat-associated lymphoid clusters (FALCs). While it is well-established that fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) are an integral component of the immune-stimulating infrastructure of lymph nodes and other classical secondary lymphoid organs, it has remained elusive whether and how FRCs in FALCs contribute to peritoneal immunity. Using FRC-specific gene targeting, we found that FALCs are underpinned by an elaborated FRC network and that initiation of peritoneal immunity was governed through FRC activation via MyD88-dependent innate immunological sensing. FRC-specific ablation of Myd88 expression blocked recruitment of inflammatory monocytes into FALCs and subsequent CD4+ T cell-dependent B-cell activation. Moreover, containment of Salmonella infection was compromised in conditionally Myd88-deficient mice indicating that FRCs in FALCs function as initial checkpoint in the orchestration of protective immune responses in the peritoneal cavity.
Project description:Pattern recognition of bacterial products by host receptors is essential for pathogen sensing in many metazoans. Caenorhabditis elegans, however, do not utilize canonical pattern recognition receptors to activate innate immunity toward bacterial pathogens. Whether other mechanisms evolved in nematodes to directly sense pathogens is not known. Here, we characterize the first bacterial pattern recognition receptor and its natural ligand in C. elegans. We show that the C. elegans nuclear hormone receptor NHR-86/HNF4 senses phenazine-1-carboxamide (PCN), a metabolite produced by pathogenic strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to activate protective anti-pathogen defenses in the intestine. PCN binds to the ligand binding domain of NHR-86/HNF4, a ligand-gated transcription factor, which engages a transcriptional program in intestinal epithelial cells that promotes metabolism of toxic phenazines to provide protection against P. aeruginosa. These data de-orphan a nuclear hormone receptor and demonstrate that sensing a metabolite signal of bacterial virulence allows nematodes to detect pathogens in its environment that are poised to cause disease.
Project description:<p>We studied a child with life-threatening and recurrent respiratory tract infections, caused by multiple viruses including rhinovirus, influenza virus, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). We identified in her a homozygous missense mutation in IFIH1 that encodes MDA5 by Whole Exome Sequencing. MDA5-deficiency is a novel inborn error of innate immunity that results in impaired dsRNA-sensing, reduced IFN induction, and susceptibility to the common cold virus.</p>
Project description:Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC) shape the organization of secondary lymphoid organs and actively promote the induction of immune responses by coordinating the interaction of innate and adaptive immune cells. However, the mechanisms underlying FRC functions during viral infections have remained largely unexplored. In the study, we combined FRC-specific genetic ablation of the type 1 IFN-alpha receptor (IFNAR) with high-dimensional transcriptomics analyses to elaborate the phenotypical alterations and functional consequences of impaired innate immunological sensing in FRC during lymph node-restricted viral infection
Project description:The cytokine interleukin-33 (IL-33) is an epithelial alarmin with critical roles in allergic inflammation and type 2 immunity. The project aims at the characterization of the direct cleavage of IL-33 by allergen proteases, resulting in its activation, and in the subsequent induction of type 2 cytokine production in group 2 innate lymphoid cells. The present dataset contains mass spectrometry analyses to map the cleavage sites for 9 distinct allergens proteases in the human IL-33 sequence.
Project description:Single cell RNA-sequencing on all IL-23 receptor expressing cells in the intestine, revealing a dominance of lymphocytes including T cells and group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s).