Intestinal Regulatory T Cells.

Mucosal surfaces are distinctive sites exposed to environmental, dietary, and microbial antigens. Particularly in the gut, the host continuously actively adapts via complex interactions between the microbiota and dietary compounds and immune and other tissue cells. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical for tuning the intestinal immune response to self- and non-self-antigens in the intestine.

Intestinal Epithelial Expression of MHCII Determines Severity of Chemical, T-Cell-Induced, and Infectious Colitis in Mice.

Background & Aims: Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) provide a barrier that separates the mucosal immune system from the luminal microbiota. IECs constitutively express low levels of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II proteins, which are upregulated upon exposure to interferon gamma. We investigated the effects of deleting MHCII proteins specifically in mice with infectious, dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-, and T-cell-induced colitis.

ZBTB32 restrains antibody responses to murine cytomegalovirus infections, but not other repetitive challenges.

ZBTB32 is a transcription factor that is highly expressed by a subset of memory B cells and restrains the magnitude and duration of recall responses against hapten-protein conjugates. To define physiological contexts in which ZBTB32 acts, we assessed responses by Zbtb32 mice or bone marrow chimeras against a panel of chronic and acute challenges. Mixed bone marrow chimeras were established in which all B cells were derived from either Zbtb32 mice or control littermates.

Total CD3 T Cells Are Necessary and Sufficient to Induce Colitis in Immunodeficient Mice With Dendritic Cell-Specific Deletion of TGFbR2: A Novel IBD Model to Study CD4 and CD8 T-Cell Interaction.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifactorial disorder, with the innate and adaptive immune cells contributing to disease initiation and progression. However, the intricate cross-talk between immune cell lineages remains incompletely understood. The role of CD8+ T cells in IBD pathogenesis has been understudied, largely due to the lack of appropriate models.

Rapid Downregulation of DAB2 by Toll-Like Receptor Activation Contributes to a Pro-Inflammatory Switch in Activated Dendritic Cells.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are pivotal in regulating tolerogenic as well as immunogenic responses against microorganisms by directing both the innate and adaptive immune response. In health, phenotypically different DC subsets found in the gut mucosa are maintained in their tolerogenic state but switch to a pro-inflammatory phenotype during infection or chronic autoinflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The mechanisms that promote the switch among the mucosal DCs from a tolerogenic to an immunogenic, pro-inflammatory phenotype are incompletely understood.

Sexual Dimorphism in the Response to Broad-spectrum Antibiotics During T Cell-mediated Colitis.

Background: Broad-spectrum antibiotics [Abx], including combination therapy with ciprofloxacin and metronidazole, are often prescribed during the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] to alleviate symptoms, but with varying success. In this pilot study, we studied the effects of Abx on the course of experimental colitis, with a particular focus on sex as a determinant of the microbial and inflammatory responses.

Methods: The effects of Abx were tested on colonic inflammation and microbiome in male and female Rag-/- mice, using adoptive transfer of naïve T cells to induce colitis in a short-term [2-week] and long-term [9-week] study.

Microbial dysbiosis associated with impaired intestinal Na/H exchange accelerates and exacerbates colitis in ex-germ free mice.

Intestinal epithelial Na/H exchange facilitated by the apical NHE3 (Slc9a3) is a highly regulated process inhibited by intestinal pathogens and in inflammatory bowel diseases. NHE3 mice develop spontaneous, bacterially mediated colitis, and IBD-like dysbiosis. Disruption of epithelial Na/H exchange in IBD may thus represent a host response contributing to the altered gut microbial ecology, and may play a pivotal role in modulating the severity of inflammation in a microbiome-dependent manner.

Transcriptional Reprogramming and Resistance to Colonic Mucosal Injury in Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase 1 (PARP1)-deficient Mice.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) synthesize and bind branched polymers of ADP-ribose to acceptor proteins using NAD as a substrate and participate in the control of gene transcription and DNA repair. PARP1, the most abundant isoform, regulates the expression of proinflammatory mediator cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules, and inhibition of PARP1 enzymatic activity reduced or ameliorated autoimmune diseases in several experimental models, including colitis. However, the mechanism(s) underlying the protective effects of PARP1 inhibition in colitis and the cell types in which Parp1 deletion has the most significant impact are unknown.