| Autor: |
Garcia-Villatoro EL; Department of Nutrition, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States., Ufondu A; Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States., Callaway ES; Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States., Allred KF; Department of Nutrition, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States.; Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States., Safe SH; Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States., Chapkin RS; Department of Nutrition, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States.; Program in Integrative Nutrition and Complex Diseases, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States., Jayaraman A; Department of Nutrition, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States.; Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States., Allred CD; Department of Nutrition, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States.; Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. |
| Abstrakt: |
After birth, the development of secondary lymphoid tissues (SLTs) in the colon is dependent on the expression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in immune cells as a response to the availability of AhR ligands. However, little is known about how AhR activity from intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) may influence the development of tertiary lymphoid tissues (TLTs). As organized structures that develop at sites of inflammation or infection during adulthood, TLTs serve as localized centers of adaptive immune responses, and their presence has been associated with the resolution of inflammation and tumorigenesis in the colon. Here, we investigated the effect of the conditional loss of AhR activity in IECs in the formation and immune cell composition of TLTs in a model of acute inflammation. In females, loss of AhR activity in IECs reduced the formation of TLTs without significantly changing disease outcomes or immune cell composition within TLTs. In males lacking AhR expression in IECs, increased disease activity index, lower expression of functional-IEC genes, increased number of TLTs, increased T-cell density, and lower B- to T-cell ratio were observed. These findings may represent an unfavorable prognosis when exposed to dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced epithelial damage compared with females. Sex and loss of IEC AhR also resulted in changes in microbial populations in the gut. Collectively, these data suggest that the formation of TLTs in the colon is influenced by sex and AhR expression in IECs. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first research of its kind to demonstrate a clear connection between biological sex and the development of tertiary lymphoid tissues (TLT) in the colon. In addition, the research finds that in a preclinical model of inflammatory bowel disease, the expression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) influences the development of these structures in a sex-specific manner. |
