TY  - JOUR
A1  - Buchele, Vera
A1  - Abendroth, Benjamin
A1  - Büttner-Herold, Maike
A1  - Vogler, Tina
A1  - Rothamer, Johanna
A1  - Ghimire, Sakhila
A1  - Ullrich, Evelyn
A1  - Holler, Ernst
A1  - Neurath, Markus
A1  - Hildner, Kai
T1  - Targeting inflammatory T helper cells via retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma t is ineffective to prevent allo-response-driven colitis
T2  - Frontiers in immunology
N2  - Intestinal graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a life-threatening, inflammatory donor T cell-mediated complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). In the light of the reported efficacy of interleukin-23 (IL-23)-blockade to mitigate syngeneic intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease patients, targeting IL-23 and thereby interleukin-17a (IL-17a) producing T helper (Th17) cells as the T cell subset assumed to be mostly regulated by IL-23, has emerged as a putatively general concept to harness immune-mediated mucosal inflammation irrespective of the underlying trigger. However, the role of Th17 cells during allo-response driven colitis remains ambiguous due to a series of studies with inconclusive results. Interestingly, we recently identified granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF+) T cells to be promoted by interleukin-7 (IL-7) signaling and controlled by the activating protein-1 transcription factor family member basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like (BATF) as critical mediators of intestinal GvHD in mice. Given the dual role of BATF, the contribution of IL-23-mediated signaling within donor T cells and bona fide Th17 cells remains to be delineated from the regulation of GM-CSF+ T cells in the absence of BATF. Here, we found in a complete MHC class I-mismatched model that genetic inactivation of the IL-23 receptor (IL-23R) or the transcription factor retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma t (RORγt) within donor T cells similarly ablated Th17 cell formation in vivo but preserved the T cells’ ability to induce intestinal GvHD in a compared to wild-type controls indistinguishable manner. Importantly, RORγt-independent manifestation of intestinal GvHD was completely dependent on BATF-regulated GM-CSF+ T cells as BATF/RORγt double-deficient T cells failed to induce colitis and the antibody-mediated blockage of IL-7/IL-7R interaction and GM-CSF significantly diminished signs of intestinal GvHD elicited by RORγt-deficient donor T cells. Finally, in analogy to our murine studies, colonic RORC expression levels inversely correlated with the presence of GvHD in allo-HSCT patients. Together, this study provides a crucial example of a BATF-dependent, however, IL-23R signaling- and RORγt-, i.e., Th17 fate-independent regulation of a colitogenic T cell population critically impacting the current understanding of intestinal GvHD.
KW  - retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma t
KW  - interleukin-23 receptor
KW  - T helper 17 cells
KW  - granulocytemacrophage colony-stimulating factor
KW  - basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like
KW  - intestinal graft-versushost disease
KW  - colitis
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46819
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-468197
SN  - 1664-3224
N1  - Copyright: © 2018 Buchele, Abendroth, Büttner-Herold, Vogler, Rothamer, Ghimire, Ullrich, Holler, Neurath and Hildner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
VL  - 9
IS  - Art. 1138
SP  - 1
EP  - 14
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -