Induction of prolonged asthma tolerance by IL-10-differentiated dendritic cells: differential impact on airway hyperresponsiveness and the Th2 immunoinflammatory response.

IL-10-differentiated dendritic cells (DC10s) can prevent allergen sensitization and reverse the asthma phenotype in mice with established disease. However, little is known about the time-frames over which this tolerance is effective. We report that at 2 wk after i.p. or transtracheal delivery of 1 × 10(6) OVA-, but not house dust mite- presenting, DC10s to OVA-asthmatic mice, significant diminution of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) was first apparent, whereas AHR was abrogated between 3 and 10 wk posttreatment. At 13 wk, AHR returned to pretreatment levels but could again be reversed by DC10 retreatment. The impact of a single DC10 treatment on airway eosinophil and Th2 cytokine responses to recall OVA challenge, and on OVA-specific IgE/IgG1 responses, was substantial at 3 wk posttreatment, but progressively increased thereafter, such that at 8 mo, airway eosinophil and Th2 responses to recall allergen challenge remained ∼85-95% suppressed relative to saline-treated asthmatic mice. Four biweekly DC10 treatments, whether transtracheal or i.p., reduced all asthma parameters to near background by 8 wk, whereas s.c. DC10 treatments did not affect AHR but did reduce the airway Th2 responses (i.v. DC10 had no discernible effects). Repeated challenge of the DC10-treated mice with aerosolized OVA (100 µg/ml) did not reverse tolerance, but treatment with the indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase antagonist 1-methyltryptophan or neutralizing anti-IL-10R from days 12 to 21 after DC10 therapy partially reversed tolerance (Th2 cytokine responses, but not AHR). These findings indicate that DC10-induced Th2 tolerance in asthmatic animals is long lived, but that DC10s employ distinct mechanisms to affect AHR versus Th2 immunoinflammatory parameters.

Amelioration of pathology by ELR-CXC chemokine antagonism in a swine model of airway endotoxin exposure.

Airborne organic dusts in swine confinement facilities have detrimental effects on workers health. Bacterial endotoxins (i.e., lipopolysaccharides [LPS]) that contaminate these dusts have been implicated in their pro-inflammatory effects in the airways. Exposure to such dusts induces expression of ELR-CXC chemokines (e.g., interleukin [IL]-8), prototypical neutrophil chemoattractants and activators, and neutrophilic pathology. To confirm the roles of the ELR-CXC chemokines in LPS-driven airway pathology, the authors exposed swine to bacterial LPS and tested whether blocking ELR-CXC chemokines would have beneficial effects. Delivery of the ELR-CXC chemokine antagonist CXCL8(3-74)K11R/G31P (G31P) blocked reactive oxygen intermediate production and chemotactic responses by IL-8-challenged neutrophils in vitro. In vivo, one treatment with G31P (100 microg/kg) blocked neutrophil inflammatory responses to intradermal LPS challenge for > or =2 days. It also ameliorated pathology in piglets challenged via the airway with 1 mg of Eschericia coli LPS. On physical examination the saline-treated endotoxemic animals were depressed, pyrexic, and displayed labored breathing, whereas the G31P-treated animals were bright, active, and alert and had a low-grade fever and occasional cough. The lungs of the saline-treated animals displayed evidence of pleural surface hemorrhagic consolidation, and their airways contained large numbers of neutrophils (>80%) as well as substantial amounts of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-1. The G31P treatments of the LPS-challenged piglets reduced their airway neutrophilic inflammatory responses by approximately 86% and reduced the airway TNF (approximately 70%) and IL-1 (approximately 83%) levels. These data implicates the ELR-CXC chemokines in the neutrophilic inflammation observed after airways exposure to bacterial LPS.

The combined CXCR1/CXCR2 antagonist CXCL8(3-74)K11R/G31P blocks neutrophil infiltration, pyrexia, and pulmonary vascular pathology in endotoxemic animals.

CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) antagonism alone can reduce neutrophil infiltration of some inflammatory sites, but the CXCR1 and CXCR2 critically regulate neutrophil responses to Glu-Leu-Arg-CXC chemokines. Herein, we assessed a combined CXCR1/CXCR2 antagonist, CXC chemokine ligand 8(3-74) [CXCL8(3-74)]K11R/G31P, for its ability to blunt neutrophil-influx and ancillary pathology in severe endotoxemia. Guinea pigs challenged via the airways with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 5 microg/kg) were given CXCL8(3-74)K11R/G31P (subcutaneously) before or after the onset of symptoms. The airways of the LPS-challenged animals contained high levels of endogenous pyrogens interleukin (IL)-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) at 2-4 h, and the animals developed pyrexia, which peaked at approximately 6 h; strong pulmonary, neutrophilic inflammation; and marked pleural hemorrhagic consolidation, as assessed at approximately 15 h. CXCL8(3-74)K11R/G31P treatment before LPS challenge reduced lung pleural hemorrhagic consolidation and airway neutrophilia by >90% and essentially abrogated the IL-1, TNF, and fever responses. When given 3 or 6 h after LPS, CXCL8(3-74)K11R/G31P reduced pulmonary neutrophilia by up to 85% and pleural hemorrhagic consolidation by 50-85%. The 3-h treatment reduced the 6- to 24-h fever response to background. Delays of 6 or 9 h in beginning treatment had significant effects on the fever decay curve, but only the 6-h treatment had a significant effect on the 24-h fever. These results indicate that combined CXCR1/CXCR2 antagonism can have significant therapeutic effects on pulmonary inflammation and hemorrhage, as well as pyrexia in endotoxemic animals.

CD8 alpha+, but not CD8 alpha-, dendritic cells tolerize Th2 responses via contact-dependent and -independent mechanisms, and reverse airway hyperresponsiveness, Th2, and eosinophil responses in a mouse model of asthma.

Splenic CD8alpha+ dendritic cells reportedly tolerize T cell responses by inducing Fas ligand-mediated apoptosis, suppressing IL-2 expression, or catabolizing T cell tryptophan reserves through expression of IDO. We report in this study that CD8alpha+, but not CD8alpha-, dendritic cells purified from the spleens of normal mice can tolerize the Th2 responses of cells from asthma phenotype mice through more than one mechanism. This tolerance could largely be reversed in vitro by anti-IL-10 or anti-TGFbeta Ab treatment. However, loss of direct dendritic cell-T cell contact also reduced tolerance, although to a lesser extent, as did adding the IDO inhibitor 1-methyltryptophan or an excess of free tryptophan to the cultures. Within 3 wk of reconstituting asthma phenotype mice with 1 x 10(5) OVA-pulsed CD8alpha+, but not CD8alpha-, dendritic cells, the mice experienced a reversal of airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophilic airway responses, and pulmonary Th2 cytokine expression. This data indicates that CD8alpha+ dendritic cells can simultaneously use multiple mechanisms for tolerization of T cells and that, in vivo, they are capable of tolerizing a well-established disease complex such as allergic lung disease/asthma.