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Rationale: Mutations in the cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator affect the innate epithelial immune function of the lung, resulting in exaggerated and ineffective airway inflammation that fails to eradicate pathogenic fungi. The appreciation of whether such fungi are primarily responsible for or a consequence of ineffective airway inflammation is important for future therapeutics development.Objectives: To characterize the impact of the tryptophan/kynurenine pathway on pathogenic airway inflammation preventing effective fungal clearance in CF.Methods: We studied the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), the first enzyme in the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation, in human and murine CF, the impact of IDO on lung inflammation and immunity in murine CF, and the potential role of tryptophan catabolism in pathogenesis and therapy of fungus-associated lung inflammation.Measurements and Main Results: IDO was defective in murine and human CF. Genetic and transcriptional regulatory mechanisms contributed to dysfunctional IDO activity that, in turn, correlated with imbalanced Th17/Treg-cell responses to Aspergillus fumigatus in murine CF. Treatments enhancing IDO function or preventing pathogenic Th17-cell activation restored protective immunity to the fungus and improved lung inflammation in murine CF.Conclusions: This study provides a link between tryptophan catabolism and lung immune homeostasis in murine CF, representing a proof-of-concept that targeting pathogenic inflammation via IDO-mimetic drugs may benefit patients with CF., Supported by a grant from the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation (Research Project no. FFC#21/2010 to L. Romani) with the contribution of Francesca Guadagnin, Coca Cola Light Tribute to Fashion, and Delegazione FFC di Belluno; and the Specific Targeted Research Project "ALLFUN" (FP7-HEALTH-2009 contract no. 260338 to L. Romani). R.G.I. gratefully acknowledges a fellowship from the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation. A. Carvalho and C. Cunha were financially supported by fellowships from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal (contracts SFRH/BPD/46292/2008 and SFRH/BD/65962/2009, respectively).

Hypoxia regulates the inflammatory-antiinflammatory balance by the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), a versatile sensor of damage-associated molecular patterns. The multiligand nature of RAGE places this receptor in the midst of chronic inflammatory diseases.To characterize the impact of the hypoxia-RAGE pathway on pathogenic airway inflammation preventing effective pathogen clearance in cystic fibrosis (CF) and elucidate the potential role of this danger signal in pathogenesis and therapy of lung inflammation.We used in vivo and in vitro models to study the impact of hypoxia on RAGE expression and activity in human and murine CF, the nature of the RAGE ligand, and the impact of RAGE on lung inflammation and antimicrobial resistance in fungal and bacterial pneumonia.Sustained expression of RAGE and its ligand S100B was observed in murine lung and human epithelial cells and exerted a proximal role in promoting inflammation in murine and human CF, as revealed by functional studies and analysis of the genetic variability of AGER in patients with CF. Both hypoxia and infections contributed to the sustained activation of the S100B-RAGE pathway, being RAGE up-regulated by hypoxia and S100B by infection by Toll-like receptors. Inhibiting the RAGE pathway in vivo with soluble (s) RAGE reduced pathogen load and inflammation in experimental CF, whereas sRAGE production was defective in patients with CF.A causal link between hyperactivation of RAGE and inflammation in CF has been observed, such that targeting pathogenic inflammation alleviated inflammation in CF and measurement of sRAGE levels could be a useful biomarker for RAGE-dependent inflammation in patients with CF.