Long-Term Exposure to House Dust Mite Leads to the Suppression of Allergic Airway Disease Despite Persistent Lung Inflammation

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Abstract

Allergic asthma is a major cause of worldwide morbidity and results from inadequate immune regulation in response to innocuous, environmental antigens. The need exists to understand the mechanisms that promote nonreactivity to human-relevant allergens such as house dust mite (HDM) in order to develop curative therapies for asthma. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of short-, intermediate-and long-term HDM administration in a murine asthma model and determine the ability of long-term HDM exposure to suppress allergic inflammation. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were intranasally instilled with HDM for short-term (2 weeks), intermediate-term (5 weeks) and long-term (11 weeks) periods to induce allergic airway disease (AAD). The severity of AAD was compared across all stages of the model via both immunological and pulmonary parameters. Results: Short-and intermediate-term HDM exposure stimulated the development of AAD that included eosinophilia in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), pronounced airway hyperreactivity (AHR) and evidence of lung inflammation. Long-term HDM exposure promoted the suppression of AAD, with a loss of BALF eosinophilia and AHR despite persistent mononuclear inflammation in the lungs. Suppression of AAD with long-term HDM exposure was associated with an increase in both Foxp3+ regulatory T cells and IL-10-positive alveolar macrophages at the site of inflammation. Conclusions: This model recapitulates the key features of human asthma and may facilitate investigation into the mechanisms that promote immunological tolerance against clinically relevant aeroallergens.

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Bracken, S. J., Adami, A. J., Szczepanek, S. M., Ehsan, M., Natarajan, P., Guernsey, L. A., … Thrall, R. S. (2015). Long-Term Exposure to House Dust Mite Leads to the Suppression of Allergic Airway Disease Despite Persistent Lung Inflammation. International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, 166(4), 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1159/000381058

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