Description
Allergies against inhalant antigens such as birch pollen affect already up to 20% of the population in Europe and the prevalence is predicted to increase even further. The lack of safe, effective as well as timesaving curative treatments emerges as one of the main problems, making it crucial to not only understand the allergic immune response, but to examine how sensitization occurs in the first place.In the past years, it has become increasingly evident that not necessarily the major allergen, but the pollen-intrinsic and extrinsic context influences an immune response on various levels. Amongst these factors, birch pollen contains its own microbiome, mainly Gram-positive bacteria, which might shape the allergen-dependent immune response by activating pattern recognition receptors including the family of intracellular nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs), in particular NLRP3.
To study the role of NLRP3 in an adjuvant-free birch pollen extract (BPE) - induced allergic airway model, we sensitized C57BL/6 wildtype and NLRP3-/- mice with BPE via different administration routes and monitored BPE-specific antibody production, allergic lung inflammation and the systemic immune response.
We observed that intranasal but not intraperitoneal administration induced an allergic response in wildtype mice indicated by high BPE-specific IgG, IgG1 and IgE levels, increased infiltration of eosinophils, neutrophils, T cells and B cells into the lung and elevated Th2-related cytokine production by splenocytes. Very strikingly, antibody production, cell infiltration and cytokine secretion was significantly reduced in NLRP3-deficient animals.
These findings identify the intranasal route of sensitization as a promising adjuvant-free animal model of allergic airway inflammation and demonstrate that the absence of NLRP3 in C57BL/6 mice might protect from allergic sensitization to BPE.
Period | 19 Sept 2023 → 21 Sept 2023 |
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Event title | 15th ÖGMBT Annual Meeting: Life Sciences and cutting-edge technologies |
Event type | Conference |
Location | Salzburg, AustriaShow on map |
Degree of Recognition | International |
Fields of Science and Technology Classification 2012
- 106 Biology