Autoimmune hepatitis (AII-1), a serious autoimmune liver disease, can be a lifelong illness, leading to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). So far the mechanisms for disease initiation are largely unknown. Here we report that the amplified non-AIH liver inflammation could promote the initiation of AIH due to the sustained increase of IL-6, IL-12, IL-4, and IL-25 in the liver. The liver injury resulting from virus (adenovirus) or chemicals (CCl4) could induce an amplified (stronger/long-lasting) hepatic inflammation by releasing the ligands for TLR2/TLR4. The amplified inflammation resulted in the increase of multiple cytokines and chemokines in the liver. Among them, the sustained increase of IL-6/IL-12 resulted in the activation of STAT3 and STAT4 in hepatic CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg cells, thus suppressing Foxp3 gene expression to reduce the suppressive function of Treg cells in the liver, but not those in the spleen. The increase of IL-12 and the impairment of Treg function promoted Th1 response in presence of self-mimicking antigen (human CYP2D6). Intriguingly, the amplified inflammation resulted in the increase of IL-4 and IL-25 in the liver. The moderate increase of IL-4 was sufficient for cooperating with IL-25 to initiate Th2 response, but inefficient in suppressing Th1 response, favoring the initiation of autoimmune response. Consequently, either adenovirus/CYP2D6 or CCl4/CYP2D6 could induce the autoimmune response and AIH in the mice, leading to hepatic fibrosis. The findings in this study suggest that the amplified non-AIH inflammation in the liver could be a driving force for the initiation of autoimmune response and AIH.
基金:
National Natural Science Foundation of China [81600448, 81472704]
第一作者单位:[1]Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol, Tongji Med Coll, Sch Basic Med, Dept Biochem & Mol Biol, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, Peoples R China
通讯作者:
通讯机构:[1]Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol, Tongji Med Coll, Sch Basic Med, Dept Biochem & Mol Biol, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, Peoples R China[2]Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol, Tongji Hosp, Tongji Med Coll, Dept Gastroenterol, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, Peoples R China[*1]Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol, Tongji Med Coll, Wuhan 430030, Hubei, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式(GB/T 7714):
Chi Gang,Feng Xin-Xia,Ru Ying-Xia,et al.TLR2/4 ligand-amplified liver inflammation promotes initiation of autoimmune hepatitis due to sustained IL-6/IL-12/IL-4/IL-25 expression[J].MOLECULAR IMMUNOLOGY.2018,99:171-181.doi:10.1016/j.molimm.2018.05.005.
APA:
Chi, Gang,Feng, Xin-Xia,Ru, Ying-Xia,Xiong, Ting,Gao, Yuan...&Feng, Zuo-Hua.(2018).TLR2/4 ligand-amplified liver inflammation promotes initiation of autoimmune hepatitis due to sustained IL-6/IL-12/IL-4/IL-25 expression.MOLECULAR IMMUNOLOGY,99,
MLA:
Chi, Gang,et al."TLR2/4 ligand-amplified liver inflammation promotes initiation of autoimmune hepatitis due to sustained IL-6/IL-12/IL-4/IL-25 expression".MOLECULAR IMMUNOLOGY 99.(2018):171-181