A hipothalamusz-hipofízis-gonád tengely és a humorális immunválasz kölcsönhatásának molekuláris mechanizmusa és szerepe az autoimmun betegségek kialakulásában: neuro-immuno-endokrin kölcsönhatások = Molecular mechanism of hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis and humoral immune response interaction and its role in development of autoimmune disease: neuro-immuno-endocrine interactions

A hypothalamus-hipofizis-gonád (HPG) tengely és az immunrendszer fontos kölcsönhatásban van egymással. Vizsgálatainkban ezen kölcsönhatásnak molekuláris mechanizmusait próbáltuk feltárni. Kísérleteinkben megmutattuk, a HPG tengely irányításában fontos szerepet betöltő GnRH neuronban lévő jelátviteli molekulák, mint az ERK fokozott aktivitást mutat T sejt dependens B sejt immunválasz kialakulásakor a 6. napon nőstény egerekben. Ebben feltehetőleg a citokinek, mint pl. az Il-10 jelentős szerepet játszhatnak. Ez a jelenség T sejt idenpendens B sejt válaszban nem mutatható ki. Megfigyeltük továbbá, hogy az ösztrogén jelentősen növeli a T sejt dependens B sejt immunitásban megfigyelhető ERK foszforilációt a GnRH neuronban. Érdekes módon ezek a változások nem alakították át az állatok ösztrusz ciklusának menetét. A HPG tengely végpontjában felszabaduló ösztrogén jelentősen növelte az antitestek és a B sejetek mennyiségét, és ez a növekedés a T sejtektől függ. A B és a T sejtekben az ösztrogén aktiválta ERK, Akt és NF?B jelátvivő molekulákat azonban csak a T sejtekben indukál növekedést az intraellularis Ca2+ koncentrációban. Az ösztrogén ezeket a nem-klasszikus hatásokat feltehetően a B és T sejtek membránjában meglévő ösztrogén receptorokon keresztül hozza létre. Kísérleti eredményeink fontos támpontot adhatnak a HPG tengely és az immunválasz interakciójának molekuláris mechanizmusaihoz, mely közelebb vihet minket a nemi dimorfizmust mutató autoimmun betegségek megértéséhez is. | Hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis has a critical interaction with the immune system. In our experiments, we investigated the molecular mechanism of this particular interaction. Our findings clearly demonstrate that T cell-dependent immune response induces signalling molecule activation, ERK, in the central processor unit of HPG axis, the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neuron in female mice at sixth day following immunization. This phenomenon may depend on the cytokines such as Il-10 and it could not be observed in T cell independent immune response. Estrogen further enhances the immune response-induced ERK phospohrylation in GnRH neurons. Interestingly, T cell dependent immune challenge did not alter the estrus cycle. The estrogen, the ?endpoint? of the HPG axis, significantly increases the antibody concentration, the number of B cells and this enhancement highly depends on T cells. Although estrogen induces activation of several signalling molecules such as ERK, Akt and NF?B in B and T cells the estrogen-induced Ca2+ increase was only detected in T cells. It is very likely that estrogen exerts its non-classical actions via estrogen receptors in B and T cells. Taken together, these results shed a light on the molecular mechanism of interaction of HPG axis and immune response. Accordingly, our data may also help to understand the mechanism of certain gender related autoimmune diseases

Exacerbation of collagen induced arthritis by Fcγ receptor targeted collagen peptide due to enhanced inflammatory chemokine and cytokine production

Antibodies specific for bovine type II collagen (CII) and Fcγ receptors play a major role in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our aim was to clarify the mechanism of immune complex-mediated inflammation and modulation of the disease. CII pre-immunized DBA/1 mice were intravenously boosted with extravidin coupled biotinylated monomeric CII-peptide epitope (ARGLTGRPGDA) and its complexes with biotinylated FcγRII/III specific single chain Fv (scFv) fragment. Disease scores were monitored, antibody titers and cytokines were determined by ELISA, and binding of complexes was detected by flow cytometry and immune histochemistry. Cytokine and chemokine secretion was monitored by protein profiler microarray. When intravenously administered into collagen-primed DBA/1 mice, both CII-peptide and its complex with 2.4G2 scFv significantly accelerated CIA and increased the severity of the disease, whereas the monomeric peptide and monomeric 2.4G2 scFv had no effect. FcγRII/III targeted CII-peptide complexes bound to marginal zone macrophages and dendritic cells, and significantly elevated the synthesis of peptide-specific IgG2a. Furthermore, CII-peptide containing complexes augmented the in vivo secretion of cytokines, including IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, IL-23, and chemokines (CXCL13, MIP-1, MIP-2). These data indicate that complexes formed by the CII-peptide epitope aggravate CIA by inducing the secretion of chemokines and the IL-12/23 family of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Taken together, these results suggest that the in vivo emerging immune complexes formed with autoantigen(s) may trigger the IL-12/23 dependent pathways, escalating the inflammation in RA. Thus blockade of these cytokines may be beneficial to downregulate immune complex-induced inflammation in autoimmune arthritis

Coadministration of antigen-conjugated and free CpG : Effects of in vitro and in vivo interactions in a murine model

CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG) are widely studied as promising adjuvants in vaccines against a range of diseases including infection, cancer or allergy. Conjugating antigen to CpG has been shown to potentiate the adjuvant effect via enhancing antigen uptake and danger signaling by the very same cell. In the present study, using biotinylated CpG and streptavidin as a model system, we demonstrate that CpG motif containing free and antigen-conjugated oligonucleotides do not compete in terms of cell activation via TLR9, but do compete for cellular uptake. Antigen-conjugated CpG enhances cellular association and uptake of the antigen by antigen-presenting cells (APC) and T cells. Free CpG efficiently competes with antigen-CpG conjugates in BMDC and T cells, but shows weak or no competition in B cells that have higher TLR9 expression. Vaccination with antigen-conjugated CpG or with a mixture of antigen and CpG elevates the level of antigen-specific antibodies but co-administration of CpG-antigen conjugates and free CpG adversely effects immunogenicity. These observations may help optimize CpG-based vaccine formulation. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

Myeloid-Specific Deletion of Mcl-1 Yields Severely Neutropenic Mice That Survive and Breed in Homozygous Form

Mouse strains with specific deficiency of given hematopoietic lineages provide invaluable tools for understanding blood cell function in health and disease. Whereas neutrophils are dominant leukocytes in humans and mice, there are no widely useful genetic models of neutrophil deficiency in mice. In this study, we show that myeloid-specific deletion of the Mcl-1 antiapoptotic protein in Lyz2Cre/CreMcl1flox/flox (Mcl1ΔMyelo) mice leads to dramatic reduction of circulating and tissue neutrophil counts without affecting circulating lymphocyte, monocyte, or eosinophil numbers. Surprisingly, Mcl1ΔMyelo mice appeared normally, and their survival was mostly normal both under specific pathogen-free and conventional housing conditions. Mcl1ΔMyelo mice were also able to breed in homozygous form, making them highly useful for in vivo experimental studies. The functional relevance of neutropenia was confirmed by the complete protection of Mcl1ΔMyelo mice from arthritis development in the K/B×N serum-transfer model and from skin inflammation in an autoantibody-induced mouse model of epidermolysis bullosa acquisita. Mcl1ΔMyelo mice were also highly susceptible to systemic Staphylococcus aureus or Candida albicans infection, due to defective clearance of the invading pathogens. Although neutrophil-specific deletion of Mcl-1 in MRP8-CreMcl1flox/flox (Mcl1ΔPMN) mice also led to severe neutropenia, those mice showed an overt wasting phenotype and strongly reduced survival and breeding, limiting their use as an experimental model of neutrophil deficiency. Taken together, our results with the Mcl1ΔMyelo mice indicate that severe neutropenia does not abrogate the viability and fertility of mice, and they provide a useful genetic mouse model for the analysis of the role of neutrophils in health and disease

FcRn Overexpression in Transgenic Mice Results in Augmented APC Activity and Robust Immune Response with Increased Diversity of Induced Antibodies

Our previous studies have shown that overexpression of bovine FcRn (bFcRn) in transgenic (Tg) mice leads to an increase in the humoral immune response, characterized by larger numbers of Ag-specific B cells and other immune cells in secondary lymphoid organs and higher levels of circulating Ag-specific antibodies (Abs). To gain additional insights into the mechanisms underlying this increase in humoral immune response, we further characterized the bFcRn Tg mice. Our Western blot analysis showed strong expression of the bFcRn transgene in peritoneal macrophages and bone marrow derived dendritic cells; and a quantitative PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression ratios of the bFcRn to mFcRn were 2.6- and 10-fold in these cells, respectively. We also found that overexpression of bFcRn enhances the phagocytosis of Ag-IgG immune complexes (ICs) by both macrophages and dendritic cells and significantly improves Ag presentation by dendritic cells. Finally, we determined that immunized bFcRn mice produce a much greater diversity of Ag-specific IgM, whereas only the levels, but not the diversity, of IgG is increased by overexpression of bFcRn. We suggest that the increase in diversity of IgG in Tg mice is prevented by a selective bias towards immunodominant epitopes of ovalbumin, which was used in this study as a model antigen. These results are also in line with our previous reports describing a substantial increase in the levels of Ag-specific IgG in FcRn Tg mice immunized with Ags that are weakly immunogenic and, therefore, not affected by immunodominance