IL-37 Represses the Autoimmunity in Myasthenia Gravis via Directly Targeting Follicular Th and B Cells.

J Immunol

Department of Neurology, Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School and the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, China;

Published: April 2020

IL-37 is a newly identified immune-suppressive factor; however, the function, cellular sources, and mechanism of IL-37 in humoral immunity and Myasthenia gravis (MG) are still unclear. In this study, we found IL-37 were substantially downregulated in the serum and PBMCs of MG patients compared with healthy controls. The lower IL-37 was associated with severer disease (quantitative MG score) and higher follicular Th (Tfh)/Tfh17 and B cell numbers. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that IL-37 was mainly produced by CD4 T cells without overlapping with Th1, Th17, and Tfh subsets in MG patients. Regulatory IL-37 T cell rarely expressed Foxp3 and CD25 but produced numerous IL-4. Tfh and B cell expressed high levels of SIGIRR, the receptor of IL-37, in MG patients. Mechanically, IL-37 directly bond to SIGIRR, repressed the proliferation, cytokine production of Tfh and B cells, and the secretion of autoantibody via inhibition of STAT3 signaling in Tfh and B cells.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1901176DOI Listing

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