Chronic schistosomiasis during pregnancy epigenetically reprograms T-cell differentiation in offspring of infected mothers

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Kathrin Klar - , Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology (Author)
  • Sophie Perchermeier - , Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology (Author)
  • Sonakshi Bhattacharjee - , Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology (Author)
  • Hani Harb - , University Hospital Gießen and Marburg (Author)
  • Thure Adler - , Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health (Author)
  • Rouzanna Istvanffy - , Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik III, Bereich Allgemeinmedizin (Author)
  • Eva Loffredo-Verde - , Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology (Author)
  • Robert A Oostendorp - , Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik III, Bereich Allgemeinmedizin (Author)
  • Harald Renz - , University Hospital Gießen and Marburg (Author)
  • Clarissa Prazeres da Costa - , Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology (Author)

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a nontransplacental helminth infection. Chronic infection during pregnancy suppresses allergic airway responses in offspring. We addressed the question whether in utero exposure to chronic schistosome infection (Reg phase) in mice affects B-cell and T-cell development. Therefore, we focused our analyses on T-cell differentiation capacity induced by epigenetic changes in promoter regions of signature cytokines in offspring. Here, we show that naïve T cells from offspring of schistosome infected female mice had a strong capacity to differentiate into TH 1 cells, whereas TH 2 differentiation was impaired. In accordance, reduced levels of histone acetylation of the IL-4 promoter regions were observed in naïve T cells. To conclude, our mouse model revealed distinct epigenetic changes within the naïve T-cell compartment affecting TH 2 and TH 1 cell differentiation in offspring of mothers with chronic helminth infection. These findings could eventually help understand how helminths alter T-cell driven immune responses induced by allergens, bacterial or viral infections, as well as vaccines.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)841-847
Number of pages7
JournalEuropean Journal of Immunology
Volume47
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - May 2017
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85017588925
ORCID /0000-0001-8218-2538/work/173988788

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Acetylation, Animals, Cell Differentiation, Chronic Disease, Cytokines/genetics, Epigenesis, Genetic, Female, Histones/metabolism, Interleukin-4/genetics, Lymphocyte Activation, Mice, Mothers, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic/immunology, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Schistosomiasis/immunology, T-Lymphocytes/immunology, Th1 Cells/immunology, Th2 Cells/immunology