Background

Notch signaling pathways govern immune function and the regulation of Th1 and Th2 differentiation. We previously demonstrated essential interactions between Notch on CD4+ T cells and Jagged1 on antigen-presenting cells in Th2 differentiation for the full development of allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and allergic airway inflammation.

Methods

Bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) were differentiated and incubated with different preparations of ovalbumin (OVA), including lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-depleted and LPS-spiked preparations. In some experiments recipient mice also received soluble Jagged1-Fc in addition to allergen-pulsed BMDCs. Ten days following transfer of BMDCs, mice were exposed to three airway challenges with OVA, and airway responsiveness to inhaled methacholine, airway inflammation and cytokine production were monitored 48 h later. Notch ligand expression was assessed by real-time PCR.

Results

Induction of Jagged1 expression on antigen-pulsed BMDCs was dependent on low-dose endotoxin. In vivo, transfer of endotoxin-free, antigen-pulsed BMDCs failed to induce AHR or airway eosinophilia on allergen challenge. However, administration of exogenous Jagged1-Fc together with endotoxin-free, allergen-pulsed BMDCs fully restored the responses to allergen challenge.

Conclusions

These data demonstrate that LPS regulates the expression of Jagged1 on BMDCs, which is essential for the full development of lung allergic responses.

Background

An important aspect of the innate immune response to pathogens is the production of anti-microbial peptides such as cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide (CRAMP), the murine homologue of human cathelicidin LL-37. In this study, mechanisms regulating LPS-induction of CRAMP gene expression in mast cells were investigated. NF-κB and MAPK pathways were the focus of investigation.

Methods

Mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells were grown in culture and stimulated with LPS. MAPKs and NF-κB were monitored by immunoblot analysis. ERK, JNK and p38 MAPK were inhibited using siRNAs or a pharmacological inhibitor. Accumulation of the p65 component of NF-κB was inhibited by siRNA and NF-κB activation was inhibited by overexpression of IκBα. MEKK2 or MEKK3 were overexpressed by transfection. The effects of all of these treatments on CRAMP gene expression were monitored by RT-PCR.

Results

Inhibition of ERK, JNK or p38 MAPK had little discernible effect on LPS-inducible CRAMP gene expression. Overexpression of MEKK2 or MEKK3 likewise had little impact. However, inhibition of the accumulation of p65 NF-κB prevented LPS-induced CRAMP mRNA. An important role for NF-κB in CRAMP gene expression was confirmed by overexpression of IκBα, which reduced both basal and induced levels of CRAMP mRNA.

Conclusions

NF-κB, but not MAPKs, plays an important role in LPS-mediated induction of CRAMP gene in mast cells. Defects which inhibit NF-κB activity may increase susceptibility to bacterial and viral pathogens which are sensitive to cathelicidins.

Rationale: Spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) is important for Fc and B-cell receptor–mediated signaling.

Objective: To determine the activity of a specific Syk inhibitor (R406) on mast cell activation in vitro and on the development of allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and inflammation in vivo.

Methods: AHR and inflammation were induced after 10 d of allergen (ovalbumin [OVA]) exposure exclusively via the airways and in the absence of adjuvant. This approach was previously established to be IgE, FcɛRI, and mast cell dependent. Alternatively, mice were passively sensitized with OVA-specific IgE, followed by limited airway challenge. In vitro, the inhibitor was added to cultures of IgE-sensitized bone marrow–derived mast cells (BMMCs) before cross-linking with allergen.

Results: The inhibitor prevented OVA-induced degranulation of passively IgE-sensitized murine BMMCs and inhibited the production of interleukin (IL)-13, tumor necrosis factor α, IL-2, and IL-6 in these sensitized BMMCs. When administered in vivo, R406 inhibited AHR, which developed in BALB/c mice exposed to aerosolized 1% OVA for 10 consecutive d (20 min/d), as well as pulmonary eosinophilia and goblet cell metaplasia. A similar inhibition of AHR was demonstrated in mice passively sensitized with OVA-specific IgE and exposed to limited airway challenge.

Conclusion: This study delineates a functional role for Syk in the development of mast cell– and IgE-mediated AHR and airway inflammation, and these results indicate that inhibition of Syk may be a target in the treatment of allergic asthma.

Cell plasticity is a central issue in stem cell biology. In many recent discussions, observation of cell fusion has been seen as a confounding factor which calls into question published results concerning cell plasticity of, particularly, adult stem cells. An examination of the voluminous literature of "somatic cell fusion" suggests the relatively frequent occurrence of "spontaneous" cell fusion and shows that the complicated cellular phenotypes which it can give rise to have long been recognized. Here, a brief overview of this field is presented, with emphasis on studies of special relevance to current work on cell plasticity.

The techniques of deoxyribonucleic acid-ribonucleic acid (DNA-RNA) hybridization and immunological precipitation were used to compare the synthesis of adenovirus-specific macromolecules in African green monkey kidney (AGMK) cells infected with adenovirus, an abortive infection, and coinfected with both adenovirus and simian virus 40 (SV40), which renders the cells permissive for adenovirus replication. When viral protein synthesis was proceeding at its maximum rate, the incorporation of 14C-amino acids into adenovirus structural proteins was about 90 times greater in the doubly infected cells than in cells infected only with adenovirus. However, the rates of synthesis of virus-specific ribonucleic acid appeared to be comparable in the two infections at all times measured. A time-dependent increase in the rate of RNA synthesis observed late in the abortive infection was dependent upon the prior replication of viral DNA. Moreover, all virus-specific RNA species that are normally made late in a productive adenovirus infection (i.e., the true late and class II early RNA species) were also detected in the abortive infection. Adenovirus-specific RNA was detected by molecular hybridization in both the cytoplasm and nuclei of abortively infected cells. Comparable amounts of viral RNA were found in the cytoplasmic fractions of AGMK cells infected either with adenovirus or with both adenovirus and SV40. The results of hybridization-inhibition experiments clearly showed that there was a class of virus-specific RNA molecules, representing about 30% of the total, in the nucleus that was not transported to the cytoplasm. This class of RNA was also identified in similar amounts in productively infected human KB cells. The difference in the abilities of cytoplasmic and nuclear RNA to inhibit the hybridization of virus-specific RNA from whole cells was shown not to be due to a difference in the molecular size of the RNA species from the two cell fractions or to the specific loss of a cytoplasmic species during RNA extraction procedures.

By using the technique of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-ribonucleic acid (RNA) hybridization, virus-specific RNA (cRNA) was detected 6 hr after infection in preparations of total RNA from cells infected with type 2 adenovirus in the presence of 2 μm 5-fluorodeoxyuridine. In the absence of 5-fluorodeoxyuridine, there was a continuous increase in the incorporation of 3H-uridine into viral cRNA until 20 hr after infection, at which time approximately 40% of the 3H-uridine entering RNA was found in virus-specific RNA. When RNA was prepared from polyribosome fractions obtained from cytoplasmic extracts of infected cells, virus-directed transcription was detected at 3 hr after infection (i.e., 3 to 4 hr before the initiation of viral DNA synthesis). Viral cRNA species synthesized at different times after infection were compared by the technique of DNA-RNA hybridization-inhibition (“presaturation” hybridization-competition). Three hybridization-inhibition techniques were compared. The techniques differed in the manner in which the DNA-RNA complex was isolated after the first hybridization reaction. Depending on the procedure employed, various degrees of inhibition were measured. The variation could be essentially eliminated if prior to hybridization the inhibitory RNA species were alkali-degraded to a uniform size of about 4S. Undegraded RNA could be used if the DNA-RNA complex was isolated by using a procedure involving rigorous washing (preferably including ribonuclease treatment) before the second hybridization with labeled RNA. When a rigorous hybridization-inhibition procedure was used, three classes of virus-specific RNA species could be distinguished: (i) early RNA class I whose synthesis began prior to viral DNA replication and stopped at some time after the initiation of viral DNA replication—it comprised about 70% of the early RNA species and was apparently degraded by 18 hr after infection; (ii) early RNA class II whose synthesis began prior to viral DNA replication and apparently continued at an enhanced rate late in infection; and (iii) late RNA whose synthesis began after the initiation of viral DNA synthesis.