Oxysterols in Autoimmunity Duc, Donovan; Vigne, Solenne; Pot, Caroline
International journal of molecular sciences,
09/2019, Letnik:
20, Številka:
18
Journal Article
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Cholesterol is a member of the sterol family that plays essential roles in biological processes, including cell membrane stability and myelin formation. Cholesterol can be metabolized into several ...molecules including bile acids, hormones, and oxysterols. Studies from the last few decades have demonstrated that oxysterols are not only active metabolites but are further involved in the modulation of immune responses. Liver X Receptors (LXRs), nuclear receptors for oxysterols, are important for cholesterol homeostasis and regulation of inflammatory response but are still poorly characterized during autoimmune diseases. Here we review the current knowledge about the role of oxysterols during autoimmune conditions and focus on the implication of LXR-dependent and LXR-independent pathways. We further highlight the importance of these pathways in particular during central nervous system (CNS) autoimmunity and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in both experimental models and human studies. Finally, we discuss our vision about future applications and research on oxysterols related to autoimmunity.
Microbiota-derived metabolites are important molecules connecting the gut to the brain. Over the last decade, several studies have highlighted the importance of gut-derived metabolites in the ...development of multiple sclerosis (MS). Indeed, microbiota-derived metabolites modulate the immune system and affect demyelination. Here, we discuss the current knowledge about microbiota-derived metabolites implications in MS and in different mouse models of neuroinflammation. We focus on the main families of microbial metabolites that play a role during neuroinflammation. A better understanding of the role of those metabolites may lead to new therapeutical avenues to treat neuroinflammatory diseases targeting the gut–brain axis.
Cholesterol is an essential structural component of all membranes of mammalian cells where it plays a fundamental role not only in cellular architecture, but also, for example, in signaling pathway ...transduction, endocytosis process, receptor functioning and recycling, or cytoskeleton remodeling. Consequently, intracellular cholesterol concentrations are tightly regulated by complex processes, including cholesterol synthesis, uptake from circulating lipoproteins, lipid transfer to these lipoproteins, esterification, and metabolization into oxysterols that are intermediates for bile acids. Oxysterols have been considered for long time as sterol waste products, but a large body of evidence has clearly demonstrated that they play key roles in central nervous system functioning, immune cell response, cell death, or migration and are involved in age-related diseases, cancers, autoimmunity, or neurological disorders. Among all the existing oxysterols, this review summarizes basic as well as recent knowledge on 25-hydroxycholesterol which is mainly produced during inflammatory or infectious situations and that in turn contributes to immune response, central nervous system disorders, atherosclerosis, macular degeneration, or cancer development. Effects of its metabolite 7α,25-dihydroxycholesterol are also presented and discussed.
Accumulating evidence indicates that IL-27, a member of the IL-12 family of cytokines, alleviates the severity of autoimmune diseases in both mice and men. The IL-27-induced activation of signal ...transducer and activator of transcription (Stat)1 and Stat3 promotes the generation of IL-10- producing type 1 regulatory T (Tr1) cells that inhibit effector T cells. In addition, IL-27 also suppresses the development of pathogenic IL-17-producing CD4+ T cells (TH17) cells suggesting that pharmacological manipulations of IL-27 signaling pathway could be exploited therapeutically in regulating tissue inflammation. Here, we review how IL-27 controls inflammation through the regulation of Tr1 and TH17 responses.
Background:
The central vein sign (CVS) has been shown to help in the differential diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), but most prior studies are retrospective.
Objectives:
To prospectively assess ...the diagnostic predictive value of the CVS in diagnostically difficult cases.
Methods:
In this prospective multicenter study, 51 patients with suspected MS who had clinical, imaging, or laboratory “red flags” (i.e. features atypical for MS) underwent 3T fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR*) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for CVS assessment. After the diagnostic work-up, expert clinicians blinded to the results of the CVS assessment came to a clinical diagnosis. The value of the CVS to prospectively predict an MS diagnosis was assessed.
Results:
Of the 39 patients who received a clinical diagnosis by the end of the study, 27 had MS and 12 received a non-MS diagnosis that included systemic lupus erythematosus, sarcoidosis, migraine, Sjögren disease, SPG4-spastic-paraparesis, neuromyelitis optica, and Susac syndrome. The percentage of perivenular lesions was higher in MS (median = 86%) compared to non-MS (median = 21%; p < 0.0001) patients. A 40% perivenular lesion cutoff was associated with 97% accuracy and a 96% positive/100% negative predictive value.
Conclusion:
The CVS detected on 3T FLAIR* images can accurately predict an MS diagnosis in patients suspected to have MS, but with atypical clinical, laboratory, and imaging features.
It is known that differentiation of Th17 cells is promoted by activation of STAT3 and inhibited by activation of STAT1. Although both transcription factors are activated by several cytokines, ...including IL-6, IL-21, and IL-27, each of these cytokines has a very different effect on Th17 differentiation, ranging from strong induction (IL-6) to strong inhibition (IL-27). To determine the molecular basis for these differences, we measured STAT3 and STAT1 activation profiles for IL-6, IL-21, and IL-27, as well as for cytokine pairs over time. We found that the ratio of activated STAT3/activated STAT1 is crucial in determining whether cytokines promote or inhibit Th17 differentiation. IL-6 and IL-21 induced p-STAT3/p-STAT1 ratios > 1, leading to the promotion of Th17 differentiation, whereas IL-27 or IL-6+IL-27 induced p-STAT3/p-STAT1 ratios < 1, resulting in inhibition of Th17 differentiation. Consistent with these findings, we show that IL-27 induces sufficient p-STAT3 to promote Th17 differentiation in the absence of STAT1. Furthermore, IL-27-induced STAT1-deficient T cells were indistinguishable from bona fide highly proinflammatory Th17 cells because they induced severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis upon adoptive transfer. Our results suggest that the ratio of p-STAT3/p-STAT1 induced by a cytokine or cytokine pairs can be used to predict whether they induce a competent Th17-differentiation program.
IL-23, an IL-12 family member, has been implicated in the development of Th17 cells and the progression of autoimmune diseases. However, due to the lack of availability of sensitive Ab reagents ...specific for the IL-23 receptor (IL-23R), it has been difficult to characterize the cell types that express the IL-23R and are responsive to IL-23 in vivo. To address the role of IL-23 in vivo, we have generated a novel "knock-in" mouse in which we have replaced the intracellular domain of the IL-23R with the GFP. We show that in addition to Th17 cells, a subset of myeloid cells express IL-23R and respond to IL-23 by producing IL-17 and IL-22. Our studies further demonstrate that IL-23R expression is crucial for generation of encephalitogenic Th17 cells, but its expression on the innate immune system is dispensible in the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common autoimmune disease of the CNS. Although an association between MS and inflammatory bowel diseases is observed, the link connecting intestinal immune responses and ...neuroinflammation remains unclear. Here we show that encephalitogenic Th17 cells infiltrate the colonic lamina propria before neurological symptom development in two murine MS models, active and adoptive transfer experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Specifically targeting Th17 cell intestinal homing by blocking the α4β7-integrin and its ligand MAdCAM-1 pathway impairs T cell migration to the large intestine and dampens EAE severity in the Th17 cell adoptive transfer model. Mechanistically, myelin-specific Th17 cells proliferate in the colon and affect gut microbiota composition. The beneficial effect of blocking the α4β7-integrin and its ligand MAdCAM-1 pathway on EAE is interdependent with gut microbiota. Those results show that disrupting myelin-specific Th17 cell trafficking to the large intestine harnesses neuroinflammation and suggests that the gut environment and microbiota catalyze the encephalitogenic properties of Th17 cells.
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•TCRMOG 2D2 Th17 cells infiltrate the colonic lamina propria during EAE•Adoptively transferred TCRMOG 2D2 Th17 cells proliferate in the colon•Blocking 2D2 Th17 cell entry into the colon with α4β7 antibody impairs EAE•TCRMOG 2D2 Th17 cells induce microbiota composition changes
Duc et al. show that Th17-polarized myelin-specific (TCRMOG 2D2) CD4+ T cells migrate to the colon before the development of neuroinflammation. Encephalitogenic Th17 cells further change intestinal microbiome composition. Blocking encephalitogenic Th17 cell entry into the colon or treatment with antibiotics ameliorates EAE severity.
The ligand activated transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) has been studied for many decades in toxicology as the ligand for the environmental contaminant dioxin. However, AhR has ...recently emerged as a critical physiological regulator of immune responses affecting both innate and adaptive systems, and several AhR ligands with different pharmacological profiles have recently been studied. The current review discusses new insights into the role of AhR signalling and AhR ligands on the regulation of the immune system, with a focus on regulatory T cells which maintain immune tolerance. Notably, AhR is expressed and modulates the development of two induced regulatory CD4+ T cell subsets, the forkhead box P3-positive (Foxp3+) regulatory T cells (iTreg) and the IL-10-secreting type 1 regulatory T (T(R)1) cells, through different signalling pathways. We will finally discuss how AhR ligands could be exploited to alleviate human autoimmune diseases. Clearly, drugs targeted against AhR should promote the development of new strategies to fight against autoimmune diseases.
Background:
The central vein sign (CVS) is an imaging biomarker able to differentiate multiple sclerosis (MS) from other conditions causing similar appearance lesions on magnetic resonance imaging ...(MRI), including cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). However, the impact of vascular risk factors (VRFs) for CSVD on the percentage of CVS positive (CVS+) lesions in MS has never been evaluated.
Objective:
To investigate the association between different VRFs and the percentage of CVS+ lesions in MS.
Methods:
In 50 MS patients, 3T brain MRIs (including high-resolution 3-dimensional T2*-weighted images) were analyzed for the presence of the CVS and MRI markers of CSVD. A backward stepwise regression model was used to predict the combined predictive effect of VRF (i.e. age, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, ever-smoking, and hypercholesterolemia) and MRI markers of CSVD on the CVS.
Results:
The median frequency of CVS+ lesions was 71% (range: 35%–100%). In univariate analysis, age (p < 0.0001), hypertension (p < 0.001), diabetes (p < 0.01), obesity (p < 0.01), smoking (p < 0.05), and the presence of enlarged-perivascular-spaces on MRI (p < 0.005) were all associated with a lower percentage of CVS+ lesions. The stepwise regression model showed that age and arterial hypertension were both associated with the percentage of CVS+ lesions in MS (adjusted R2 = 0.46; p < 0.0001 and p = 0.01, respectively).
Conclusion:
The proportion of CVS+ lesions significantly decreases in older and hypertensive MS patients. Although this study was conducted in patients with an already established MS diagnosis, the diagnostic yield of the previously proposed 35% CVS proportion-based diagnostic threshold appears to be not affected. Overall these results suggest that the presence of VRF for CSVD should be taken into account during the CVS assessment.
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