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. 2008 Sep 19;29(3):464-75.
doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2008.06.017.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells mediate oral tolerance

Anne Goubier  1 , Bertrand Dubois, Hanane Gheit, Grégoire Joubert, Florence Villard-Truc, Carine Asselin-Paturel, Giorgio Trinchieri, Dominique Kaiserlian
Affiliations

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells mediate oral tolerance

Anne Goubier et al. Immunity. .

Abstract

Oral tolerance prevents oral sensitization to dietary antigens (Ags), including proteins and haptens, and development of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses. We showed here that plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) prevented oral T cell priming and were responsible for systemic tolerance to CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell-mediated DTH responses induced by Ag feeding. Systemic depletion of pDCs prevented induction of tolerance by antigen feeding. Transfer of oral Ag-loaded liver pDCs to naive recipient mice induced Ag-specific suppression of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses to protein and hapten, respectively. Liver is a site of oral Ag presentation, and pDCs appeared to induce anergy or deletion of Ag-specific T cells in the liver relatively rapidly via a CD4(+) T cell-independent mechanism. These data demonstrate that oral tolerance relies on Ag presentation by pDC to T cells and suggest that pDC could represent a key therapeutic target for intestinal and systemic inflammatory diseases.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Organ Distribution of Orally Administered Hapten
(A) Immunohistochemical analysis of DNP capture in the small intestine, at various time points after DNFB gavage (initial magnification 320). Cryostat section (5 μm) of small intestine were stained with a biotinylated DNP mAb and streptavidin peroxidase, and the reaction was developed using amino-ethyl carbazole. (B) Peyer’s patches, spleen, MLN, liver, hepatic LN, or axillaries and inguinal LN were harvested at 2 hr after vehicle feeding (white bars) or 2 hr (hatched bars) and 24 hr (black bars) after DNFB gavage. Isolated leukocytes (105 cells/well) were cocultured for 3 days with CD8+ T cells (105 cells/well) from day 5 DNFB-sensitized mice. Proliferation was determined by 3H-thymidine uptake during the last 8 hr of culture. Results are expressed as mean cpm ± SD of triplicate wells containing pooled cells from four mice per group. Data are representative of one out of three independent experiments.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Hapten Delivery by Either Oral or Intraportal Routes Induces Tolerance of CD8+ T Cells Mediating CHS
(A) Hapten-specific CHS. On day −7, mice were fed with 0.1% DNFB diluted in acetone and olive oil (1:10 v/v) (closed squares) or injected via the portal vein with 125 mg/kg DNBS diluted in PBS (closed circles) or with PBS alone (open circles). All mice were DNFB sensitized on day 0 and ear challenged on day 5, and CHS response was determined by ear swelling (μm) at various times after hapten challenge. Results are expressed as mean ear swelling (μm ± SD) for five to seven mice per group and are representative of one out of two independent experiments. *p < 0.01 PBS-injected mice compared to DNBS-injected mice. (B) Hapten-specific CD8+ T cell response. Mice were treated and sensitized as in Figure 2A. Purified CD8+ T cells (2 × 105) harvested from inguinal and axillary lymph nodes on day 5 after skin sensitization were restimulated in vitro for 3 days with irradiated spleen cells (5 × 105) either untreated or pulsed with DNBS, and IFN-γ was titrated by ELISA in day 3 supernatants. Results are expressed as mean IFN-γ production (UI/ml) ± SD of triplicate wells containing pooled CD8+ T cells from four mice per group. Data are representative of one out of two independent experiments.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Liver Plasmacytoid DC Are Tolerogenic In Vivo
(A) FACS analysis and sorting of hepatic DC subsets. Liver leukocytes were stained with anti-CD11c, anti-CD11b and anti-NK1.1. Gated CD11c+ cells (left dot plot) were analyzed for CD11b and NK1.1 expression (right dot plot) and were FAC-sorted into three subsets: CD11c+CD11b+or−NK1.1+ (R1), CD11c+CD11b+NK1.1− (R2), and CD11c+CD11b−NK1.1− (R3). (B) Liver CD11c+ cells are unable to prime a CHS response to DNFB. Mice were immunized on day 0 by s.c. transfer of 105 BM-DC (open squares) or MAC-sorted CD11c+ liver cells (closed squares) pulsed in vitro with DNBS. CHS was determined by ear swelling (μm ± SD of five to seven mice per group) after DNFB challenge on day 5. *p < 0.01. (C) Liver CD11c+ cells inhibit CHS to DNFB. Unpulsed (105) liver CD11c+ cells (closed circles) or PBS (open circles) were injected subcutaneously in naive mice at the time and site of skin painting with DNFB. CHS was determined by ear swelling (μm ± SD of five mice per group) after DNFB challenge 5 days later. *p < 0.05. (D–F) In vivo adoptive transfer experiments. Each subset of R1 (closed squares), R2 (open circles), and R3 (closed circles) sorted CD11c+ liver cells shown in (C)was transferred s.c. (105 cells/mouse) into naive mice at the site and time of skin sensitization with DNFB (day 0). Untransferred but DNFB skin-sensitized mice (open squares) were used as controls. In (D) and (F), all mice were ear challenged on day 5, and CHS to DNFB was determined by ear swelling (μm ± SD of five mice per group) at (D) various times or (F) 24 hr after DNFB challenge. *p < 0.05 between the untransferred group and the R3-transferred group. In (E), at day 5, the frequency of hapten-specific IFN-γ-spot-forming cells (SFC) in draining lymph nodes was determined by ELISPOT. Results are expressed as the mean number of SFC per 106 CD8+ T cells ± SD of triplicate wells containing pooled CD8+ T cells from four mice per group. In (E), right panel, and (F), in an independent experiment, CD11c+CD11b−NK1.1− liver leukocytes were further sorted into 120G8+ pDC and 120G8− cells and tested for their capacity to suppress priming of (E) hapten-specific IFN-γ SFC or a (F) CHS response. Each data set is representative of two (D–F) to four (B and C) independent experiments.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Antibody Depletion of pDC Prevents Induction of Oral Tolerance and Allows for Oral Priming
(A–D) Mice were injected with either anti-Gr1 RB8.6C5 mAb or anti-BST2 120G8 mAb to deplete pDC, or with the control rat GL113 mAb, and tested for induction of oral tolerance as monitored by the CHS (A and C) and CD8+ T cell responses to DNFB (B and D), as described in the Experimental Procedures and in the legend of Figure 2. In (A), *p < 0.01 between control mAb- and anti-Gr1-treated DNFB-fed mice. In (B), *** p < 0.0001; ** p = 0.0071. Data in (A)–(D) are representative of three reproducible experiments using five to seven mice per group. (E) To test for oral priming, mice were fed with DNFB or vehicle and ear challenged 5 days later, and the ear swelling response was determined after 48 hr (one representative experiment out of two).
Figure 5
Figure 5. Antibody-Mediated Depletion of pDC Affects Oral Tolerance to Protein Antigens
(A) Mice were injected or not with 120G8 mAb and were fed three times either with PBS or 20 mg of OVA as depicted in the flow charts, where # indicates the days of 120G8 mAb injections. Seven days after the last gavage, all mice were immunized by subcutaneous injection of OVA in PBS and CFA emulsion and challenged 1 week later with aggregated OVA injected in the footpad. (B and C) Tolerance induction was analyzed by measurement of the DTH reaction 24 hr after challenge (mean ear swelling ± SD of five mice per group) and (C) OVA-specific T cell IFN-γ production by spleen cells collected 48 hr after challenge and restimulated in vitro with 1 mg/ml OVA (mean UI/ml ± of triplicate wells). *** p = 0.001; ** p = 0.0018.
Figure 6
Figure 6. pDC from Liver or MLN of Ag-Fed mice Efficiently Suppress DTH Responses in an Antigen-Specific Fashion
(A) DNBS-pulsed BMDCs (105) were transferred s.c. into naive mice in the presence or absence of graded numbers of pDCs (102–105) purified by MACS from the liver of vehicle- or DNFB-fed mice. All mice were ear challenged with DNFB at day 5, and CHS to DNFB was determined by ear swelling 24 hr later. Data are expressed as mean ear swelling (μm ± SD) and are representative of one out of two experiments with four mice per group. ***p < 0.0005 between recipients of 105 or 104 liver pDC from DNFB-fed donors and control mice that did not receive pDC. (B) DNBS-pulsed BM-DC (105) were injected s.c. into naive mice, either alone or together with 105 MAC-sorted pDC from liver or spleen of mice that received DNFB or vehicle by gavage 18 hr before. In an independent experiment, pDC were purified from the liver or MLN of DNFB-fed mice by FACS and similarly transferred into naive mice. At day 5 after DC transfer, the frequency of IFN-γ-secreting T cells was determined by an ELISPOT in skin-draining lymph nodes. Results are expressed as the mean number of IFN-γ SFC per 106 T cells ± SD of triplicate wells containing pooled lymph node cells from three mice per group. (C and D) OVA-pulsed BM-DC (105) (C) or DNBS-pulsed BM-DC (D) were injected s.c. alone or together with 105 liver pDC FACS purified from mice that were fed 18 hr earlier with either DNFB, OXA, or OVA. Five days after immunization, recipients of DNBS-pulsed BM-DC were ear challenged with DNFB, and the ear swelling response was determined after 48 hr (C) *** p = 0.0002. All mice that received OVA-pulsed BM-DC were challenged with aggregated OVA in the footpad 7 days after immunization, and the DTH response, as measured by footpad swelling, was determined after 48 hr (D) * p = 0.03. These data are representative of two independent experiments.
Figure 7
Figure 7. pDC Are Required for Orally Induced Functional Deletion of Hapten-Specific CD8+ T Cells
(A–D) On day 0, 8–10 C57BL/6 or (D) MHC class II-deficient donor mice were fed with either DNFB or vehicle as control, and sacrificed 1 (B) or 6 (A–D) days later for isolation of CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T cells (3 3 105, A and B, or 2.5 3 106, C and D) purified from the (A and B) liver or (A–D) MLN were transferred intravenously into CD3ε-deficient recipient mice, that were sensitized 3 weeks later by skin painting with DNFB. Five days after sensitization, all mice were ear challenged with DNFB and the (A) CHS response of individual, and (B–D) the frequency of hapten-specific IFN-γ SFC in pooled skin draining lymph nodes (mean values of SFC ± SD of triplicate wells) were determined. (C) pDC were depleted in donor mice by injection of the 120G8 mAb at days −1, 0 (day of feeding), +2, and +5. Results are representative of one out two independent experiments using five to eight Cd3 ε−/− recipients per group. Data of Figure 7B represent mean values of SFC ± SD of triplicate wells, containing CD8+ T cells pooled from five recipients. Statistics are indicated as p values in the figures.
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