The TLR7 agonist imiquimod selectively inhibits IL-4-induced IgE production by suppressing IgG1/IgE class switching and germline ε transcription through the induction of BCL6 expression in B cells.

Imiquimod (IMQ) is a selective toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist. TLR7 activation leads to the production of IFN-γ and pro-inflammatory cytokines by innate immune cells. However, the role of TLR7 in B cells is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the direct effect of in vitro stimulation with IMQ on Ab production and isotype switching in B cells. IMQ selectively diminished IL-4-induced IgE and IgG1 production in anti-CD40-activated mouse B cells. IMQ also inhibited germline ε transcripts (GLTε)/GLTγ1 and post-switch ε transcripts (PSTε)/PSTγ1 expression, while enhancing GLTγ2c and PSTγ2c expression in anti-CD40/IL-4-stimulated B cells. Interestingly, IMQ abrogated IL-4-induced circle transcripts ε-γ1 (CTε-γ1) expression, indicative of sequential switching from IgG1 to IgE. Furthermore, IMQ repressed IL-4-induced surface IgE/IgG1 expression while increasing surface IgG2c expression. The selective inhibition of IgE synthesis was not due to IMQ-induced production of IFN-γ or IL-12 in the same culture. IMQ also enhanced BCL6 expression, a transcriptional repressor for the GLTε promoter, in anti-CD40/IL-4-stimulated B cells. In addition, BCL6 siRNA restored IMQ-mediated suppression of GLTε transcription. Therefore, these results indicate that TLR7 engagement by IMQ inhibits IL-4-induced GLTε transcription by enhancing BCL6 expression and inhibits IL-4-induced sequential switching from IgM to IgE via IgG1, thus resulting in the downregulation of IgE production by B cells.