title: Protein/DNA vaccine-induced antigen-specific Treg confer protection against asthma.
abstract: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder caused by T-cell-mediated inflammation within airways. No antigen-specific treatment has been available. Using an OVA-induced murine asthma model, we find that co-immunization of an OVA epitope peptide with a DNA vaccine encoding the same epitope is able to prevent this experimental asthma as evidenced in the marked reduction of infiltrations of eosinophils and lymphocytes into the site of the allergen challenge. We demonstrate that the prevention of experimental asthma was directly related to the induction of a population of OVA-specific T-regulatory cells (Treg) exhibiting a CD4(+)CD25(-)FoxP3(+) phenotype and expressing IL-10, TGF-beta and IFN-gamma following the co-immunization. Blockade of IL-10 and TGF-beta of the Treg by anti-IL-10 and TGF-beta antibodies is partially able to reverse the suppression in vitro and in vivo, which caused the recurrence of the inflammation. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of the induced Treg is also able to suppress the OVA-induced asthma. To our knowledge, the combination of peptide with its cognate DNA vaccine protect experimental asthma via the induced epitope-specific Treg has not been previously reported and such strategy may lead to a novel immunotherapy against asthma in humans.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Agro-Biotechnology and College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China.
authors.forename: Huali
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Yanxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ruiping
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: She
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Youmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014611:Vaccination; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D000939:Epitopes; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D010047:Ovalbumin