Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Although chronic intestinal helminth infections may suppress allergen-induced airway pathology by inducing a combination of modified T-helper (Th) 2 and immunosuppressive cytokines, a similar capacity of natural acute intestinal infections has remained untested, despite their global prevalence. Here, we show that allergic airway phenotypes including eosinophilia, eotaxin mRNA, and Th2 cytokines are significantly suppressed in animals that were infected by and that have cleared the intestinal parasite Eimeria vermiformis. Unlike in helminth-infected animals, regulation requires temporal coincidence of infection with sensitization; depends on interferon-gamma; and is not associated with an enhanced antigen-specific immunoglobulin G1 response. Moreover, regulation was effective following allergen sensitization in different anatomical sites, and in young and adult mice. These data highlight a transient anatomical dissemination of "functional immunologic dominance" following infection of the gut mucosa. They strongly support the hypothesis that airway allergies are naturally suppressed by both acute and chronic mucosal pathogens, but by different mechanisms.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/mi.2008.83

Type

Journal article

Journal

Mucosal Immunol

Publication Date

03/2009

Volume

2

Pages

144 - 155

Keywords

Aging, Animals, Chemokine CCL11, Chronic Disease, Coccidiosis, Cytokines, Eimeria, Eosinophilia, Hypersensitivity, Immunization, Immunoglobulin G, Interferon-gamma, Intestinal Mucosa, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Oocysts, Ovalbumin, Respiratory System, Respiratory Tract Diseases, Th2 Cells