Identification of duck IL-4 and its inhibitory effect on IL-17A expression in R. anatipestifer-stimulated splenic lymphocytes. (March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fernandez, Cherry P.; Afrin, Fahmida; Flores, Rochelle A.; Kim, Woo H.; Jeong, Jipseol; Kim, Suk; Lillehoj, Hyun S.; Min, Wongi
• Is Part Of: Molecular immunology. Volume 95(2018:Mar.)
• Page Start: 20
• Page End: 29
• Publication Date: 2018-03
• Subjects: Duck -- Splenic lymphocyte -- Interleukin-4 -- Inhibition of Th17 cytokine expression -- Riemerella anatipestifer; Immunochemistry -- Periodicals; Molecular biology -- Periodicals; Immunochemistry -- Periodicals; Allergy and Immunology -- Periodicals; Molecular Biology -- Periodicals; Immunochimie -- Périodiques; Biologie moléculaire -- Périodiques; Immunochemistry; Molecular biology; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 571.96
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2018.01.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-5890

Abstract

Highlights: Duck IL-4 was identified from ConA-activated splenic lymphocytes. R. anatipestifer infection increased Th17 cytokines IL-17A and IL-17F in ducks. Expression levels of IL-4 transcript were generally lower in infected ducks compared to infected chickens. mRNA expression of IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-12p40, and IL-23p19 transcripts was inhibited by IL-4 treatment on splenic lymphocytes cultured with killed R. anatipestifer . Abstract: As the dysregulation of IL-17 is implicated in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, the suppression of IL-17 production by Th2 cytokines could alleviate the development of these diseases. Previously, we confirmed that inflammatory cytokines including IL-17A are strongly associated with R. anatipestifer infection, which is one of the most important bacterial pathogens in the duck industry. Here, we found that IL-4 treatment downregulated the expression of IL-17A and IL-17F transcripts in splenic lymphocytes stimulated with R. anatipestifer . Moreover, duck IL-4 (duIL-4) treatment in R. anatipestifer -stimulated lymphocytes suppressed the expression of IL-23p19 and IL-12p40 transcripts compared to untreated and stimulated lymphocytes. Conversely, duIL-4 increased levels of IFN-γ and IL-10. We identified a full-length duIL-4 cDNA encoding 136 amino acids from ConA-activated splenic lymphocytes that shares 49.3–50% amino acid sequence identity with chicken and quail IL-4 and 21–29.7% with mammalian and piscine homologues. Low or moderate levels of duIL-4 transcript were observed in healthy tissues, including the spleen, bursa, and thymus, whereas duIL-4 expression was higher in the kidney and lung. Levels of duIL-4 were generally upregulated in mitogen-activated splenic lymphocytes but lower in the liver and spleen of R . anatipestifer -infected ducks compared to those of infected chickens. Recombinant duIL-4 promoted nitric oxide synthesis in duck macrophages stimulated by R. anatipestifer compared to untreated and stimulated control macrophages. These results demonstrate that IL-4 is an important Th2 cytokine that inhibits inflammatory responses in splenic lymphocytes stimulated with R. anatipestifer .