Preventive and Therapeutic Effects of HD02 and MD159 through Mast Cell Degranulation Inhibition in Mouse Models of Atopic Dermatitis.

As the relationship between the gut microbiome and allergies becomes better understood, targeted strategies to prevent and treat allergies through gut microbiome modulation are being increasingly developed. In the study presented herein, we screened various probiotics for their ability to inhibit mast cell degranulation and identified HD02 and MD159 as effective candidates. The two strains significantly attenuated vascular permeability induced by mast cell degranulation in a passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) model and, in the MC903-induced murine atopic dermatitis (AD) model, demonstrated comparable preventive effects against allergies, reducing blood levels of MCPT-1 (mast cell protease-1) and total IgE.

Degranulation of Mast Cells as a Target for Drug Development.

Mast cells act as key effector cells of inflammatory responses through degranulation. Mast cell degranulation is induced by the activation of cell surface receptors, such as FcεRI, MRGPRX2/B2, and P2RX7. Each receptor, except FcεRI, varies in its expression pattern depending on the tissue, which contributes to their differing involvement in inflammatory responses depending on the site of occurrence.

Combined IgE neutralization and Bifidobacterium longum supplementation reduces the allergic response in models of food allergy.

IgE is central to the development of allergic diseases, and its neutralization alleviates allergic symptoms. However, most of these antibodies are based on IgG1, which is associated with an increased risk of fragment crystallizable-mediated side effects. Moreover, omalizumab, an anti-IgE antibody approved for therapeutic use, has limited benefits for patients with high IgE levels.

Two-photon microscopy of Paneth cells in the small intestine of live mice.

Paneth cells are one of the principal epithelial cell types in the small intestine, located at the base of intestinal crypts. Paneth cells play key roles in intestinal host-microbe homeostasis via granule secretion, and their dysfunction is implicated in pathogenesis of several diseases including Crohn's disease. Despite their physiological importance, study of Paneth cells has been hampered by the limited accessibility and lack of labeling methods.

Alterations in Gut Microbiota and Immunity by Dietary Fat.

Gut microbiota play critical physiological roles in energy extraction from the intestine and in the control of systemic immunity, as well as local intestinal immunity. Disturbance of gut microbiota leads to the development of several diseases, such as colitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, metabolic disorders, cancer, etc. From a metabolic point of view, the gut is a large metabolic organ and one of the first to come into contact with dietary fats.

Protein energy malnutrition alters mucosal IgA responses and reduces mucosal vaccine efficacy in mice.

Oral vaccine responsiveness is often lower in children from less developed countries. Childhood malnutrition may be associated with poor immune response to oral vaccines. The present study was designed to investigate whether protein energy malnutrition (PEM) impairs B cell immunity and ultimately reduces oral vaccine efficacy in a mouse model.

Regulatory Eosinophils in Inflammation and Metabolic Disorders.

Eosinophils are potent effector cells implicated in allergic responses and helminth infections. Responding to stimuli, they release their granule-derived cytotoxic proteins and are involved in inflammatory processes. However, under homeostatic conditions, eosinophils are abundantly present in the intestine and are constantly in contact with the gut microbiota and maintain the balance of immune responses without inflammation.

Gut-Specific Delivery of T-Helper 17 Cells Reduces Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Mice.

Background & Aims: Obesity and metabolic syndrome have been associated with alterations to the intestinal microbiota. However, few studies examined the effects of obesity on the intestinal immune system. We investigated changes in subsets of intestinal CD4 T-helper (T) cells with obesity and the effects of gut-tropic T17 cells in mice on a high-fat diet (HFD).

Small intestinal eosinophils regulate Th17 cells by producing IL-1 receptor antagonist.

Eosinophils play proinflammatory roles in helminth infections and allergic diseases. Under steady-state conditions, eosinophils are abundantly found in the small intestinal lamina propria, but their physiological function is largely unexplored. In this study, we found that small intestinal eosinophils down-regulate Th17 cells.

Dietary antigens limit mucosal immunity by inducing regulatory T cells in the small intestine.

Dietary antigens are normally rendered nonimmunogenic through a poorly understood "oral tolerance" mechanism that involves immunosuppressive regulatory T (Treg) cells, especially Treg cells induced from conventional T cells in the periphery (pTreg cells). Although orally introducing nominal protein antigens is known to induce such pTreg cells, whether a typical diet induces a population of pTreg cells under normal conditions thus far has been unknown. By using germ-free mice raised and bred on an elemental diet devoid of dietary antigens, we demonstrated that under normal conditions, the vast majority of the small intestinal pTreg cells are induced by dietary antigens from solid foods.

Extracellular vesicle-derived protein from Bifidobacterium longum alleviates food allergy through mast cell suppression.

Background: The incidence of food allergies has increased dramatically during the last decade. Recently, probiotics have been studied for the prevention and treatment of allergic disease.

Objective: We examined whether Bifidobacterium longum KACC 91563 and Enterococcus faecalis KACC 91532 have the capacity to suppress food allergies.

Parasitic nematode-induced CD4+Foxp3+T cells can ameliorate allergic airway inflammation.

Background: The recruitment of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+T (Treg) cells is one of the most important mechanisms by which parasites down-regulate the immune system.

Methodology/principal Findings: We compared the effects of Treg cells from Trichinella spiralis-infected mice and uninfected mice on experimental allergic airway inflammation in order to understand the functions of parasite-induced Treg cells. After four weeks of T.

Oral immunization of haemaggulutinin H5 expressed in plant endoplasmic reticulum with adjuvant saponin protects mice against highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus infection.

Pandemics in poultry caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A virus occur too frequently globally, and there is growing concern about the HPAI A virus due to the possibility of a pandemic among humans. Thus, it is important to develop a vaccine against HPAI suitable for both humans and animals. Various approaches are underway to develop such vaccines.

Protective effects of Fc-fused PD-L1 on two different animal models of colitis.

Objective: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has been shown to negatively regulate immune responses via its interaction with PD-1 receptor. In this study, we investigated the effects of PD-L1-Fc treatment on intestinal inflammation using two murine models of inflammatory colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and T-cell transfer.

Design: The anti-colitis effect of adenovirus expressing Fc-conjugated PD-L1 (Ad/PD-L1-Fc) and recombinant PD-L1-Fc protein was evaluated in DSS-treated wild-type and Rag-1 knockout (KO) mice.

Negative role of inducible PD-1 on survival of activated dendritic cells.

PD-1 is a well-established negative regulator of T cell responses by inhibiting proliferation and cytokine production of T cells via interaction with its ligands, B7-H1 (PD-L1) and B7-DC (PD-L2), expressed on non-T cells. Recently, PD-1 was found to be expressed in innate cells, including activated DCs, and plays roles in suppressing production of inflammatory cytokines. In this study, we demonstrate that PD-1 KO DCs exhibited prolonged longevity compared with WT DCs in the dLNs after transfer of DCs into hind footpads.

Ulmus davidiana var. japonica Nakai upregulates eosinophils and suppresses Th1 and Th17 cells in the small intestine.

The bark of Ulmus davidiana var. japonica Nakai (Ulmaceae) has been used in traditional Korean medicine for chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Here we investigated the frequency and cytokine profile of the major immune cells in the small intestinal lamina propria (SI LP), spleen, and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) of mice treated orally with Ulmus davidiana var.

Intestinal Lin- c-Kit+ NKp46- CD4- population strongly produces IL-22 upon IL-1β stimulation.

Small intestinal innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) regulate intestinal epithelial cell homeostasis and help to prevent pathogenic bacterial infections by producing IL-22. In a global gene-expression analysis comparing small intestinal ILCs (Lin(-)c-Kit(+)Sca-1(-) cells) with non-ILCs (Lin(-)c-Kit(-)Sca-1(-) cells), we found that Lin(-)c-Kit(+)Sca-1(-) cells highly expressed the mRNAs for Il22, antimicrobial peptides, Csf2rb2 (Il3r), mast cell proteases, and Rorc. We then subdivided the Lin(-)c-Kit(+)Sca-1(-) cells into three groups--Lin(-)c-Kit(+)NKp46(-)CD4(-), Lin(-)c-Kit(+)NKp46(-)CD4(+) (CD4(+) LTi-like cells), and Lin(-)c-Kit(+)NKp46(+) (NKp46(+) ILC22 cells)--and showed that the Lin(-)c-Kit(+)NKp46(-)CD4(-) cells produced the highest level of IL-22 protein after IL-1β, IL-23, or IL-1β and IL-23 stimulation.

Delivery of IL-12p40 ameliorates DSS-induced colitis by suppressing IL-17A expression and inflammation in the intestinal mucosa.

IL-12p40 homodimer is a natural antagonist of IL-12 and IL-23, which are potent pro-inflammatory cytokines required for Th1 and Th17 immune responses, respectively. It has been reported that Th17 response is involved in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic disorder of the digestive system with steadily increasing incidence. Here, we investigated the effects of IL-12p40 delivered via recombinant adenovirus (rAd/IL-12p40) or mesenchymal stem cells (MSC/IL-12p40) in a dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS)-induced colitis model.

Combined two-photon microscopy and optical coherence tomography using individually optimized sources.

The combination of two-photon microscopy (TPM) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) is useful in conducting in-vivo tissue studies, because they provide complementary information regarding tissues. In the present study, we developed a new combined system using separate light sources and scanners for individually optimal imaging conditions. TPM used a Ti-Sapphire laser and provided molecular and cellular information in microscopic tissue regions.

Loss of the autophagy protein Atg16L1 enhances endotoxin-induced IL-1beta production.

Systems for protein degradation are essential for tight control of the inflammatory immune response. Autophagy, a bulk degradation system that delivers cytoplasmic constituents into autolysosomes, controls degradation of long-lived proteins, insoluble protein aggregates and invading microbes, and is suggested to be involved in the regulation of inflammation. However, the mechanism underlying the regulation of inflammatory response by autophagy is poorly understood.

Nepmucin/CLM-9, an Ig domain-containing sialomucin in vascular endothelial cells, promotes lymphocyte transendothelial migration in vitro.

Nepmucin/CLM-9 is an Ig domain-containing sialomucin expressed in vascular endothelial cells. Here we show that, like CD31, nepmucin was localized to interendothelial contacts and to vesicle-like structures along the cell border and underwent intracellular recycling. Functional analyses showed that nepmucin mediated homotypic and heterotypic cell adhesion via its Ig domain.

Regulation of humoral and cellular gut immunity by lamina propria dendritic cells expressing Toll-like receptor 5.

The intestinal cell types responsible for defense against pathogenic organisms remain incompletely characterized. Here we identify a subset of CD11c(hi)CD11b(hi) lamina propria dendritic cells (LPDCs) that expressed Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5) in the small intestine. When stimulated by the TLR5 ligand flagellin, TLR5(+) LPDCs induced the differentiation of naive B cells into immunoglobulin A-producing plasma cells by a mechanism independent of gut-associated lymphoid tissue.

Binding of lymphoid chemokines to collagen IV that accumulates in the basal lamina of high endothelial venules: its implications in lymphocyte trafficking.

Certain lymphoid chemokines are selectively and constitutively expressed in the high endothelial venules (HEV) of lymph nodes and Peyer's patches, where they play critical roles in the directional migration of extravasating lymphocytes into the lymphoid tissue parenchyma. How these chemokines are selectively localized and act in situ, however, remains unclear. In the present study, we examined the possibility that basal lamina-associated extracellular matrix proteins in the HEVs are responsible for retaining the lymphoid chemokines locally.