1. R848 or influenza virus can induce potent innate immune responses in the lungs of neonatal mice.
- Author
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Makris S and Johansson C
- Subjects
- Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport metabolism, Age Factors, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Cyclic AMP metabolism, Cytokines biosynthesis, Disease Models, Animal, Host-Pathogen Interactions drug effects, Host-Pathogen Interactions immunology, Lung virology, Macrophages, Alveolar immunology, Macrophages, Alveolar metabolism, Mice, Myeloid Differentiation Factor 88 metabolism, Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections immunology, Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections metabolism, Signal Transduction drug effects, Imidazoles pharmacology, Immunity, Innate drug effects, Lung drug effects, Lung immunology, Orthomyxoviridae immunology, Orthomyxoviridae Infections immunology, Orthomyxoviridae Infections virology
- Abstract
Innate immune responses are important to protect the neonatal lung, which becomes exposed to commensal and pathogenic microorganisms immediately after birth, at a time when both the lung and the adaptive immune system are still developing. How immune cells in the neonatal lung respond to innate immune stimuli, including toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, or viruses, is currently unclear. To address this, adult and neonatal mice were intranasally administered with various innate immune stimuli, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or influenza virus and cytokine and chemokine levels were quantified. The neonatal lungs responded weakly to RSV and most stimuli but more strongly than adult mice to R848 and influenza virus, both of which activate TLR7 and the inflammasome. Notably, neonatal lungs also contained higher levels of cAMP, a secondary messenger produced following adenosine receptor signaling, than adult lungs and increased responsiveness to R848 was observed in adult mice when adenosine was coadministered. Our data suggest that the neonatal lung may respond preferentially to stimuli that coactivate TLR7 and the inflammasome and that these responses may be amplified by extracellular adenosine. Improved understanding of regulation of immune responses in the neonatal lung can inform the development of vaccine adjuvants for the young.
- Published
- 2021
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