Interferon-regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is essential for the development of T helper 2 (Th2) and Th17 cells. Herein, we report that IRF4 is also crucial for the development and function of an interleukin-9 (IL-9)-producing CD4(+) T cell subset designated Th9. IRF4-deficient CD4(+) T cells failed to develop into IL-9-producing Th9 cells, and IRF4-specific siRNA inhibited IL-9 production in wild-type CD4(+) T cells. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analyses revealed direct IRF4 binding to the Il9 promoter in Th9 cells. In a Th9-dependent asthma model, neutralization of IL-9 substantially ameliorated asthma symptoms. The relevance of these findings is emphasized by the fact that the induction of IL-9 production also occurs in human CD4(+) T cells accompanied by the upregulation of IRF4. Our data clearly demonstrate the central function of IRF4 in the development of Th9 cells and underline the contribution of this T helper cell subset to the pathogenesis of asthma.

Atopic asthma is a chronic disease of the airways that has taken on epidemic proportions in the industrialized world. The increase in asthma rates has been linked epidemiologically to the rapid disappearance of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterial pathogen that persistently colonizes the human stomach, from Western societies. In this study, we have utilized mouse models of allergic airway disease induced by ovalbumin or house dust mite allergen to experimentally examine a possible inverse correlation between H. pylori and asthma. H. pylori infection efficiently protected mice from airway hyperresponsiveness, tissue inflammation, and goblet cell metaplasia, which are hallmarks of asthma, and prevented allergen-induced pulmonary and bronchoalveolar infiltration with eosinophils, Th2 cells, and Th17 cells. Protection against asthma was most robust in mice infected neonatally and was abrogated by antibiotic eradication of H. pylori. Asthma protection was further associated with impaired maturation of lung-infiltrating dendritic cells and the accumulation of highly suppressive Tregs in the lungs. Systemic Treg depletion abolished asthma protection; conversely, the adoptive transfer of purified Treg populations was sufficient to transfer protection from infected donor mice to uninfected recipients. Our results thus provide experimental evidence for a beneficial effect of H. pylori colonization on the development of allergen-induced asthma.

Persistent colonization with the gastric bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori causes gastritis and predisposes infected individuals to gastric cancer. Conversely, it is also linked to protection from allergic, chronic inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases. We demonstrate here that H. pylori inhibits LPS-induced maturation of DCs and reprograms DCs toward a tolerance-promoting phenotype. Our results showed that DCs exposed to H. pylori in vitro or in vivo failed to induce T cell effector functions. Instead, they efficiently induced expression of the forkhead transcription factor FoxP3, the master regulator of Tregs, in naive T cells. Depletion of DCs in mice infected with H. pylori during the neonatal period was sufficient to break H. pylori-specific tolerance. DC depletion resulted in improved control of the infection but also aggravated T cell-driven immunopathology. Consistent with the mouse data, DCs infiltrating the gastric mucosa of human H. pylori carriers exhibited a semimature DC-SIGN

Infection with the gastric bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori is typically contracted in early childhood and often persists for decades. The immunomodulatory properties of H. pylori that allow it to colonize humans persistently are believed to also account for H. pylori's protective effects against allergic and chronic inflammatory diseases. H. pylori infection efficiently reprograms dendritic cells (DCs) toward a tolerogenic phenotype and induces regulatory T cells (Tregs) with highly suppressive activity in models of allergen-induced asthma. We show here that two H. pylori virulence determinants, the γ-glutamyl transpeptidase GGT and the vacuolating cytotoxin VacA, contribute critically and nonredundantly to H. pylori's tolerizing effects on murine DCs in vitro and in vivo. The tolerancepromoting effects of both factors are independent of their described suppressive activity on T cells. Isogenic H. pylori mutants lacking either GGT or VacA are incapable of preventing LPS-induced DC maturation and fail to drive DC tolerization as assessed by induction of Treg properties in cocultured naive T cells. The Δggt and ΔvacA mutants colonize mice at significantly reduced levels, induce stronger T-helper 1 (Th1) and T-helper 17 (Th17) responses, and/or trigger more severe gastric pathology. Both factors promote the efficient induction of Tregs in vivo, and VacA is required to prevent allergen-induced asthma. The defects of the Δggt mutant in vitro and in vivo are phenocopied by pharmacological inhibition of the transpeptidase activity of GGT in all readouts. In conclusion, our results reveal the molecular players and mechanistic basis for H. pyloriinduced immunomodulation, promoting persistent infection and conferring protection against allergic asthma.bacterial virulence factors | hygiene hypothesis | persistent bacterial infection | human microbiota | persistence strategies T he bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori persistently colonizes the gastric mucosa of humans. It is typically acquired in early childhood (1) and, in the absence of antibiotic therapy, may persist for the entire lifespan of the host (2, 3). The extraordinary ability of H. pylori to resist a vigorous adaptive immune response driven in large part by T-helper 1 (Th1) and/or T-helper 17 (Th17)-polarized effector T cells (4, 5) has been attributed to its perfect adaptation to-and manipulation of-the human innate and adaptive immune systems (6). H. pylori has colonized its human host for at least 60,000 y (7) and during this long period of coevolution has evolved elaborate ways to systemically manipulate adaptive immune responses and to promote its persistence through the preferential induction of regulatory T-cell (Treg) over T-effector cell responses. Treg-predominant responses are characteristic of heavily colonized but asymptomatic carriers (4) and of children with particularly mild forms of Helicobacter-associated gastritis (8). Several recent functional studies using experimentally infected animals have implicated Tregs and dendritic cells (...

The prevalence of allergic asthma and other atopic diseases has reached epidemic proportions in large parts of the developed world. The gradual loss of the human indigenous microbiota has been held responsible for this trend. The bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori is a constituent of the normal gastric microbiota whose presence has been inversely linked to allergy and asthma in humans and experimental models. Here we show that oral or i.p. tolerization with H. pylori extract prevents the airway hyperresponsiveness, bronchoalveolar eosinophilia, pulmonary inflammation, and Th2 cytokine production that are hallmarks of allergen-induced asthma in mice. Asthma protection is not conferred by extracts from other enteropathogens and requires a heat-sensitive H. pylori component and the DC-intrinsic production of IL-10. The basic leucine zipper ATF-like 3 (BATF3)-dependent CD103 + CD11b − dendritic cell lineage is enriched in the lungs of protected mice and strictly required for protection. Two H. pylori persistence determinants, the γ-glutamyl-transpeptidase GGT and the vacuolating cytotoxin VacA, are required and sufficient for asthma protection and can be administered in purified form to prevent asthma. In conclusion, we provide preclinical evidence for the concept that the immunomodulatory properties of H. pylori can be exploited for tolerization strategies aiming to prevent allergen-induced asthma.bacterial immunomodulation | allergy and asthma prevention | tolerogenic dendritic cells | bacterial persistence determinants