Trained immunity and immune tolerance have been identified as long-term response patterns of the innate immune system. The causes of these opposing reactions remain elusive. Here, we report about differential inflammatory responses of microglial cells derived from neonatal mouse brain to increasing doses of the endotoxin LPS. Prolonged priming with ultra-low LPS doses provokes trained immunity, i.e., increased production of pro-inflammatory mediators in comparison to the unprimed control. In contrast, priming with high doses of LPS induces immune tolerance, implying decreased production of inflammatory mediators and pronounced release of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Investigation of the signaling processes and cell functions involved in these memory-like immune responses reveals the essential role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase γ (PI3Kγ), one of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase species highly expressed in innate immune cells. Together, our data suggest profound influence of preceding contacts with pathogens on the immune response of microglia. The impact of these interactions—trained immunity or immune tolerance—appears to be shaped by pathogen dose.

Recent studies suggest a role for autophagy in the secretion of IL-1 cytokines regulating the development of inflammatory diseases. The antimalarial drug and autophagy/lysosome inhibitor chloroquine (CHQ) is considered as potential trigger of drug-induced or drug-aggravated psoriasis, in which Th17 cells sustain a persistent inflammation. In this study, we investigated the effect of CHQ on human monocyte-derived Langerhans-like cells (MoLC) and dendritic cells (MoDC) in response to IL-1β. The presence of CHQ reduced IL-12p70 release in both subsets, but surprisingly increased IL-6 production in MoDC and IL-23 in MoLC. Importantly, CHQ-treated MoLC promoted IL-17A secretion by CD4+ T cells and elevated RORC mRNA levels, whereas IFN-γ release was reduced. The dysregulation of IL-12 family cytokines in MoLC and MoDC occurred at the transcriptional level. Similar effects were obtained with other late autophagy inhibitors, whereas PI3K inhibitor 3-methyladenine failed to increase IL-23 secretion. The modulated cytokine release was dependent on IL-1 cytokine activation and abrogated by a specific IL-1R antagonist. CHQ elevated expression of TNFR-associated factor 6, a common intermediate in IL-1R and TLR-dependent signaling. Accordingly, treatment with Pam3CSK4 and CHQ enhanced IL-23 release in MoLC and MoDC. CHQ inhibited autophagic flux, confirmed by increased LC3-II and p62 expression, and activated ERK, p38, and JNK MAPK, but only inhibition of p38 abrogated IL-23 release by MoLC. Thus, our findings indicate that CHQ modulates cytokine release in a p38-dependent manner, suggesting an essential role of Langerhans cells and dendritic cells in CHQ-provoked psoriasis, possibly by promoting Th17 immunity.

Microglia, the innate immune cells of the central nervous system, feature adaptive immune memory with implications for brain homeostasis and pathologies. However, factors involved in the emergence and regulation of these opposing responses in microglia have not been fully addressed. Recently, we showed that microglia from the newborn brain display features of trained immunity and immune tolerance after repeated contact with pathogens in a dose-dependent manner. Here, we evaluate the impact of developmental stage on adaptive immune responses of brain microglia after repeated challenge with ultra-low (1 fg/ml) and high (100 ng/ml) doses of the endotoxin LPS in vitro. We find that priming of naïve microglia derived from newborn but not mature and aged murine brain with ultra-low LPS significantly increased levels of pro-inflammatory mediators TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, MMP-9, and iNOS as well as neurotrophic factors indicating induction of trained immunity (p < 0.05). In contrast, stimulation with high doses of LPS led to a robust downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and iNOS independent of the developmental state, indicating induced immune tolerance. Furthermore, high-dose priming with LPS upregulated anti-inflammatory mediators IL-10, Arg-1, TGFβ, MSR1, and IL-4 in newborn microglia (p < 0.05). Our data indicate pronounced plasticity of the immune response of neonate microglia compared with microglia derived from mature and aged mouse brain. Induced trained immunity after priming with ultra-low LPS doses may be responsible for enhanced neuro-inflammatory susceptibility of immature brain. In contrast, the immunosuppressed phenotype following high-dose LPS priming might be prone to attenuate excessive damage after recurrent systemic inflammation.