Project description:Tolerance to dietary antigens is critical to avoid deleterious type 2 immune responses resulting in food allergy (FA) and anaphylaxis. However, the mechanisms resulting in both the maintenance and failure of tolerance to food antigens is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the goblet cell-derived resistin-like molecule beta (RELMb) is a critical regulator of oral tolerance. We find that RELMb is abundant in serum in both food allergic patients and mouse models of FA. Deletion of RELMβ protects mice from FA, development of food antigen specific IgE and anaphylaxis. RELMb disrupts food tolerance through modulation of the gut microbiome by suppressing gut Lactobacilli. Tolerance is maintained via local production of indole derivatives driving FA protective RORgt+ regulatory T (Treg) cells via activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). RELMb antagonism in the peri-weaning period restored oral tolerance and protected genetically prone offspring from developing FA later in life. Together, our data identify RELMb as mediating both a novel gut immune-epithelial circuit regulating tolerance to food antigens, a new mode of innate control of antigen specific adaptive immunity via microbiome editing and targetable candidates in this circuit for prevention and treatment of FA.
Project description:The prevalence of respiratory allergy in children is increasing. Epigenetic changes (e.g. DNA methylation) are plausible underlying molecular mechanisms. Longitudinal birth cohorts are instrumental to study the relation between early-life environmental factors and the development of complex diseases. Our AXA Research Fund and Cefic-LRI supported project explores the hypothesis that chemical exposures during pregnancy can influence the immune system and development of allergy in children. Questionnaire data, as well as cord blood, plus blood and saliva samples at age 11 years, were collected in substudies of two longitudinal birth cohorts in Belgium (FLEHS1 & FLEHS2) and analyzed with Illumina Methylation 450K BeadChips as well as gene targeted iPLEX MassArrays analysis. The project aims to answer the following questions: 1) can we identify specific changes in epigenetic modifications on DNA from allergic compared to not-allergic children; 2) are these allergy-related epigenetic changes a result of chemical exposure during pregnancy; and 3) did the early life exposures leave an epigenetic “mark” that is maintained through childhood. If chemicals exposures and resulting predictive markers of allergic diseases can be detected early, prevention strategies, particularly in children or before pregnancy, could be developed.
Project description:The objective of the study was to investigate how oral immunotherapy (OIT) for food allergy modulates inflammation and immune cell responses. The blood cell transcriptome of 50 children receiving egg OIT was profiled using peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples obtained at baseline and after 3 and 8 months of OIT.
Project description:Mechanisms of allergen-specific B cell tolerance in children with cow’s milk-oral immunotherapy and natural outgrowth of milk allergy
Project description:Peanut allergy is increasingly prevalent among children in the United States and other industrialized countries and is now estimated to affect approximately 2% of children. While there are currently no approved treatment options, peanut allergy usually persists into adulthood, can be life-threatening, and accounts for most deaths related to food allergy. Here, we track peanut-reactive CD4+ T effector (pTeff) cells using the CD154 up-regulation assay. We found that CRTH2+ pTeff cells and CCR6+ pTeff cells represent two mutually exclusive, non-overlapping cellular and molecular entities involved in food allergic diseases.
Project description:Mild cold acclimation increases insulin sensitivity and previous studies indicate that some level of muscle contraction is essential for provoking this effect. Here, 15 adults with overweight or obesity, the majority of which had impaired glucose tolerance (n=9), were intermittently cold exposed for 10 consecutive days to induce 1 hour of shivering per day. Cold acclimation with shivering improved oral glucose tolerance, blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglyceride, and non-esterified free-fatty acid concentrations, and may thus represent a novel lifestyle approach for the prevention and treatment of obesity-related metabolic disorders.