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Title: Retnla (Relma/Fizz1) suppresses helminth-induced Th2-Type immunity

Author
item PESCE, JOHN - National Instiute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH)
item RAMALINGAM, THIRU - National Instiute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH)
item WILSON, MARK - National Instiute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH)
item MENTINK-KANE, MARGARET - National Instiute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH)
item THOMPSON, ROBERT - National Instiute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH)
item CHEEVER, ALLEN - Biomedical Research Institute, Maryland
item Urban, Joseph
item THOMAS, WYNN - National Instiute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH)

Submitted to: PLoS Pathogens
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/24/2009
Publication Date: 5/17/2009
Citation: Pesce, J.T., Ramalingam, T.R., Wilson, M.S., Mentink-Kane, M.M., Thompson, R.W., Cheever, A.W., Urban Jr, J.F., Wynn, T.A. 2009. Retnla (Relma/Fizz1) suppresses helminth-induced Th2-Type immunity. PLoS Pathogens. 5(4)1-15.

Interpretive Summary: Parasitic infections have been used to model regulation of localized inflammatory responses and immune pathologies. Understanding the nature of the regulatory properties of parasites is likely to provide targets to control unregulated aspects of inflammatory disease. The current study demonstrates that Retnla (Resistin-like molecule alpha/FIZZ1), a molecule previously identified as expressed in adipose tissue without known function, is a negative regulator of several components of the immune response to parasites. The studies showed that Retnla suppressed resistance to gastrointestinal nematode parsaites and lung granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis by negatively regulating immune cells that produce a generalized Th2-dependent response to infection. These results suggest that parasite-induced changes in the lung and intestine also activate the expression of Retnla that limits the inflammatory response. This work will be important to scientists and clinicians interested in regulation and control of infectious of the lung and intestine, and how this molecule could influence the level of inflammation that accompanies the metabolic imbalance in adipose tissue during obesity related inflammation.

Technical Abstract: Retnla (Resistin-like molecule alpha/FIZZ1) is induced during Th2 cytokine immune responses. Using Retnla deficient (-/-) mice and three helminth models, we show that Retnla functions as a negative regulator of Th2 responses. Pulmonary granuloma formation induced by the eggs of the helminth parasite Schistosoma mansoni (Sm) is dependent on IL-4 and IL-13 and associated with marked increases in Retnla expression. We found that both primary and secondary pulmonary granuloma formation were exacerbated in the absence of Retlna. The number of granuloma-associated eosinophils and serum IgE titers were also enhanced. Retnla (-/-) mice chronically infected with (Sm) displayed significant increases in granulomatous inflammation in the liver and augmented development of fibrosis and progression to hepatosplenic disease. Finally, Retnla (-/-) mice infected with the GI nematode parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis had intensified lung pathology to migrating larvae, reduced fecundity, and accelerated expulsion of adult worms from the intestine, suggesting Th2 immunity was enhanced. When their immune responses were compared, helminth infected Retnla (-/-) mice developed stronger Th2 responses, which could be reversed by exogenous rRelma treatment. Studies with several cytokine knockout mice showed that expression of Retnla was dependent on IL-4 and IL-13 and inhibited by IFN-gamma, while other experiments indicated that eosinophils and epithelial cells were the primary producers of Retnla in the liver and lung, respectively. Thus, the Th2-inducible gene Retnla suppresses resistance to GI nematode infection, pulmonary granulomatous inflammation, and fibrosis by negatively regulating Th2-dependent responses.