Th17/Treg cell imbalance plays an important role in respiratory syncytial virus infection compromising asthma tolerance in mice

Abstract

Mucosal tolerance is induced early in life and is an important mechanism of protection from diseases, such as asthma. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a main cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants. Clinical studies have found that there is a strong association between RSV infection in infancy and later development of asthma, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. A mouse model of immune tolerance induced by oral feeding of ovalbumin(OVA) was successfully established in our previous studies. We found that RSV infection could break the oral immune tolerance state.RSV infection increased the mRNA expression of IL-17A and IL-17A/Foxp3(the transcription factor forkhead box P3) in OT mice, but the mRNA expression of IL-4 and other T helper(Th)2 cytokines did not change significantly. As detected by flow cytometry analysis, RSV infection elevated Th17 cell levels and correspondingly decreased Regulatory T(Treg) cell levels in the hilar lymph nodes (HLNs) and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs), but there were no significant differences in the spleen or peripheral blood.We hypothesized that an imbalance in Th cells played an important role in RSV infection compromising asthma tolerance.RSV infection disrupted asthma tolerance by increasing the Th17/Treg ratio rather than the Th1/Th2 ratio'.Therefore, altering the Th17/Treg ratio has been identified as a potential therapeutic target in asthma caused by RSV or another virus.