title: Long-term exposure to high levels of decabrominated diphenyl ether inhibits CD4 T-cell functions in C57Bl/6 mice.
abstract: In recent years, the adverse health effects of decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209) have raised more concerns as a growing number of studies reported its persistence in the environment and abundance in the human population, especially in occupational environmental compartments and exposed personnel. This study applies our previous animal model simulating occupational exposure to BDE-209 to investigate its potential adverse effects on CD4 T cells. Female C57Bl/6 mice were orally gavaged with BDE-209 at a dose of 800 mg kg(-1) every 2 days for 10 months and the blood of each mouse was collected for analysis. Kinetic changes of the peripheral immune system were investigated from 1 to 5 months of exposure. The chronic effects on cytokine production, proliferation and the antigen-specific responses of CD4 T cells were evaluated at 7, 9 and 10 months, respectively. The results have shown that impaired proliferation and cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-2 or TNF-α) production of CD4 T cells were observed in BDE-209-exposed mice, accompanied by increased T regulatory cells in the blood. BDE-209 exposure in vitro also suppressed the reactivity of CD4 T cells at concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 μM. Furthermore, we observed weaker antigen-specific CD4 T-cell responses to Listeria monocytogenes infection in the mice exposed to BDE-209, suggesting decreased resistance to exogenous pathogens. Taken together, these observations indicate an impaired cellular immunity after long-term and relative high-dose exposure to BDE-209 in adult mice. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.|Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000633:toxicity*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D007376:Interleukin-2; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma; C010902:decabromobiphenyl ether
keywords: CD4 T cells; decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209); exogenous pathogens; immunotoxicity; occupational exposure