SUMMARY Mononuclear phagocytes, including monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells, contribute to tissue integrity, as well as innate and adaptive immune defense. Emerging evidence for labour division indicates that manipulation of these cells could bear therapeutic potential. However, specific ontogenies of individual populations and the overall functional organisation of the cellular network are not well-defined. Here we report a fate mapping study of the murine monocyte and macrophage compartment taking advantage of constitutive and conditional CX3CR1 promoter-driven Cre recombinase expression. We have demonstrated that major tissue resident macrophage populations, including liver Kupffer cells, lung alveolar, splenic and peritoneal macrophages, are established prior to birth and maintain themselves subsequently during adulthood independent of replenishment by blood monocytes. Furthermore, we have established that the short-lived Ly6C+ monocytes constitute obligatory steady state precursors of blood-resident Ly6C− cells and that the abundance of Ly6C+ blood monocytes dynamically controls the circulation life span of their progeny.

Microglia are brain macrophages and, as such, key immune-competent cells that can respond to environmental changes. Understanding the mechanisms of microglia-specific responses during pathologies is hence vital for reducing disease burden. The definition of microglial functions has so far been hampered by the lack of genetic in vivo approaches that allow discrimination of microglia from closely related peripheral macrophage populations in the body. Here we introduce a mouse experimental system that specifically targets microglia to examine the role of a mitogen-associated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAP3K), transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), during autoimmune inflammation. Conditional depletion of TAK1 in microglia only, not in neuroectodermal cells, suppressed disease, significantly reduced CNS inflammation and diminished axonal and myelin damage by cell-autonomous inhibition of the NF-κB, JNK and ERK1/2 pathways. Thus, we found TAK1 to be pivotal in CNS autoimmunity, and we present a tool for future investigations of microglial function in the CNS.

No abstract

Transcriptome profiling is widely used to infer functional states of specific cell types, as well as their responses to stimuli, to define contributions to physiology and pathophysiology. Focusing on microglia, the brain macrophages, we report here a side-by-side comparison of classical cell sort-based transcriptome sequencing and the ‘RiboTag’ method that avoids cell retrieval from tissue context and yields translatome sequencing information. Conventional whole cell microglia transcriptomes were found to be significantly tainted by artifacts induced by tissue-dissociation, cargo contaminations and transcripts sequestered from ribosomes. Conversely, our data highlight the added value of RiboTag profiling to assess the accuracy of Cre transgenic mice. Collectively, this study indicates method-based biases, reveals observer effects and establishes RiboTag-based translatome profiling as a valuable complement to standard sort-based profiling strategies.

Key Points• Ex vivo isolated myeloid populations of the mononuclear phagocyte network display specific microRNA expression signatures.• miR-142-deficient mice display a reduction of splenic CD4 ϩ dendritic cells resulting in impaired priming of CD4 T-cell responses.

Microglia seed the embryonic neuro-epithelium, expand and actively sculpt neuronal circuits in the developing central nervous system, but eventually adopt relative quiescence and ramified morphology in the adult. Here, we probed the impact of post-transcriptional control by microRNAs (miRNAs) on microglial performance during development and adulthood by generating mice lacking microglial Dicer expression at these distinct stages. Conditional Dicer ablation in adult microglia revealed that miRNAs were required to limit microglial responses to challenge. After peripheral endotoxin exposure, Dicer-deficient microglia expressed more pro-inflammatory cytokines than wild-type microglia and thereby compromised hippocampal neuronal functions. In contrast, prenatal Dicer ablation resulted in spontaneous microglia activation and revealed a role for Dicer in DNA repair and preservation of genome integrity. Accordingly, Dicer deficiency rendered otherwise radio-resistant microglia sensitive to gamma irradiation. Collectively, the differential impact of the Dicer ablation on microglia of the developing and adult brain highlights the changes these cells undergo with time.

The role of corticosterone (Cort), the immune system's major stress hormone, in the regulation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and their dynamic bone marrow (BM) microenvironment is currently unknown. We report that corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 (CRFR1) mutant mice with chronically low Cort levels showed aberrant HSPC regulation, having higher HSPC numbers and upregulation of the chemokine CXCL12, phenotypes that were restored by Cort supplementation. Expanded stromal progenitors known to support HSPCs were also observed in these low-Cort-containing mice. A similar phenotype was induced in wild-type (WT) mice by Metyrapone, a Cort synthesis inhibitor. Conversely, high Cort exposure induced HSPC apoptosis, reduced long-term BM repopulation and decreased stromal progenitor cell numbers. We documented circadian oscillations of Cort in WT BM but not in CRFR1 mutant mice, leading to diminished circadian BM CXCL12 fluctuations and increased number of circulating HSPCs in these mice. Finally, low Cort induced expansion of stromal progenitors, CXCL12 expression, HSPC proliferation and BM repopulation capacity, involving Notch1 signaling. This was associated with upregulation of the Notch ligand, Jagged1, in BM myeloid cells. Our results suggest that daily physiologic Cort oscillations are critical for balanced HSPC proliferation and function involving Notch1 signaling and their supportive BM microenvironment.

Protective immune responses depend on the formation of immune synapses between T cells and antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The two main LFA-1 ligands, ICAM-1 and ICAM-2, are co-expressed on many cell types, including APCs and blood vessels. Although these molecules were suggested to be key players in immune synapses studied in vitro, their contribution to helper T cell priming in vivo is unclear. Here, we used transgenic mice and intravital imaging to examine the role of dendritic cell (DC) ICAM-1 and ICAM-2 in naive CD4 T cell priming and differentiation in skin-draining lymph nodes. Surprisingly, ICAM deficiency on endogenous CD40-stimulated lymph node DCs did not impair their ability to arrest and prime CD4 lymphocyte activation and differentiation into Th1 and Tfh effectors. Thus, functional T cell receptor (TCR)-specific helper T cell synapses with antigen-presenting DCs and subsequent proliferation and early differentiation into T effectors do not require LFA-1-mediated T cell adhesiveness to DC ICAMs.