Imbalance in the regulatory immune mechanisms that control intestinal cellular and bacterial homeostasis may lead to induction of the detrimental inflammatory signals characterized in humans as inflammatory bowel disease. Induction of proinflammatory cytokines (i.e., IL-12) induced by dendritic cells (DCs) expressing pattern recognition receptors may skew naive T cells to T helper 1 polarization, which is strongly implicated in mucosal autoimmunity. Recent studies show the ability of probiotic microbes to treat and prevent numerous intestinal disorders, including Clostridium difficile-induced colitis. To study the molecular mechanisms involved in the induction and repression of intestinal inflammation, the phosphoglycerol transferase gene that plays a key role in lipoteichoic acid (LTA) biosynthesis in Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM (NCK56) was deleted. The data show that the L. acidophilus LTAnegative in LTA (NCK2025) not only down-regulated IL-12 and TNFα but also significantly enhanced IL-10 in DCs and controlled the regulation of costimulatory DC functions, resulting in their inability to induce CD4 + T-cell activation. Moreover, treatment of mice with NCK2025 compared with NCK56 significantly mitigated dextran sulfate sodium and CD4 + CD45RB high T cell-induced colitis and effectively ameliorated dextran sulfate sodium-established colitis through a mechanism that involves IL-10 and CD4 + FoxP3 + T regulatory cells to dampen exaggerated mucosal inflammation. Directed alteration of cell surface components of L. acidophilus NCFM establishes a potential strategy for the treatment of inflammatory intestinal disorders.antiinflammatory | lactobacilli | Toll-like receptor 2 | innate immunity

Background & Aims Mechanisms responsible for crypt architectural distortion in chronic ulcerative colitis (CUC) are not well understood. Data indicate that Akt signaling cooperates with Wnt to activate β-catenin in intestinal stem and progenitor cells through phosphorylation at Ser552 (P-β-catenin552). We investigated whether phosphoinositide 3- kinase (PI3K) is required for Akt-mediated activation of β-catenin during intestinal inflammation. Methods The class IA subunit of PI3K was conditionally deleted from intestinal epithelial cells in mice. Acute inflammation was induced in these mice (I-pik3r1KO) and their intestines were analyzed by biochemical and histological methods. The effects of chemically blocking PI3K in colitic IL-10−/− mice were examined. Biopsy samples from patients were examined. Results Compared to wild type mice, I-pik3r1KO mice had reduced T-cell–mediated Akt and β-catenin signaling in intestinal stem and progenitor cells and limited crypt epithelial proliferation. Biochemical analyses indicated that PI3K–Akt signaling increased nuclear total β-catenin and P-β-catenin552 levels and reduced phosphorylation of N-terminal β-catenin, which is associated with degradation. PI3K inhibition in IL-10−/− mice impaired colitis-induced epithelial Akt and β-catenin activation, reduced progenitor cell expansion, and prevented dysplasia. Human samples had increased numbers of progenitor cells with P-β-catenin552 throughout expanded crypts and increased mRNA expression of β-catenin target genes in CUC, colitis-associated cancer, tubular adenomas, and sporadic colorectal cancer, compared with control samples. Conclusions PI3K–Akt signaling cooperates with Wnt to increase β-catenin signaling during inflammation. PI3K-induced and Akt-mediated β-catenin signaling are required for progenitor cell activation during the progression from CUC to CAC; these factors might be used as biomarkers of dysplastic transformation in the colon.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with increased apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). Mutations in the tumor suppressor p53 appear during early stages of progression from colitis to cancer. We investigated the role of p53 and its target, p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA), in inflammation-induced apoptosis of IECs. METHODS Apoptosis was induced in mouse models of mucosal inflammation. Responses of IECs to acute, T-cell activation were assessed in wild-type, p53−/−, Bid−/−, Bim−/−, Bax3−/−, Bak−/−, PUMA−/−, and Noxa−/− mice. Responses of IECs to acute and chronic colitis were measured in mice following 1 or 3 cycles of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), respectively. Apoptosis was assessed by TUNEL staining and measuring activity of caspases 3 and 9; levels of p53 and PUMA were assessed in colon tissue from patients with and without ulcerative colitis. RESULTS Apoptosis of IECs occurred in the lower crypts of colitic tissue from humans and mice. Colitis induction with anti-CD3 or 3 cycles of DSS increased apoptosis and protein levels of p53 and PUMA in colonic crypt IECs. In p53−/− and PUMA−/− mice, apoptosis of IECs was significantly reduced but inflammation was not. Levels of p53 and PUMA were increased in inflamed mucosal tissues of mice with colitis and in patients with UC, compared with controls. Induction of PUMA in IECs of p53−/− mice indicated that PUMA-mediated apoptosis was independent of p53. CONCLUSIONS In mice and humans, colon inflammation induces apoptosis of IECs via p53-dependent and -independent mechanisms; PUMA also activates an intrinsic apoptosis pathway associated with colitis.

Chronic ulcerative colitis (CUC) is characterized by increased intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) apoptosis associated with elevated tumor necrosis factor (TNF), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and p53. We previously showed that p53 is increased in crypt IECs in human colitis and is needed for IEC apoptosis in chronic dextran sulfate sodium-colitis. Herein, we examined the roles of TNF and iNOS in regulating p53-induced IEC apoptosis in CUC. The IEC TUNEL staining, caspases 3, 8, and 9, and p53 protein levels, induced by anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) activation of T cells, were markedly reduced in TNF receptor 1 and 2 gene knockout mice. Induction of IEC apoptosis correlated with increased p53, which was attenuated in iNOS(-/-) mice. IEC p53 levels and apoptosis were reduced in IL-10(-/-) colitic mice treated with neutralizing TNF mAb and the iNOS inhibitor, aminoguanidine, further suggesting that TNF and iNOS are upstream of p53 during colitis-induced IEC apoptosis. IEC apoptosis and p53 levels were assessed in control versus untreated or anti-TNF-treated CUC patients with equivalent levels of inflammation. Data indicated that IEC apoptosis and p53 levels were clearly higher in untreated CUC but markedly reduced in patients treated with anti-TNF mAb. Therefore, TNF-induced iNOS activates a p53-dependent pathway of IEC apoptosis in CUC. The inhibition of IEC apoptosis may be an important mechanism for mucosal healing in anti-TNF-treated CUC patients.

Plaen IG. Lack of VEGFR2 signaling causes maldevelopment of the intestinal microvasculature and facilitates necrotizing enterocolitis in neonatal mice.

Although human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gag/pol DNA can be detected in naive T cells, whether naive T cells can be productively infected by HIV is still questionable. Given that interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a prospective therapeutic immunomodulator for the treatment of HIV, we evaluated the effect of IL-7 on promoting naive T-cell infection of laboratory-adapted (IIIB), Mtropic, and primary isolates of HIV. Initially, we determined that the 3 cell surface markers widely used to identify naive T cells (CD45RA ؉ CD45RO ؊ , CD45RA ؉ CD62L ؉ , and CD45RO ؊ CD27 ؉ CD95 low ) are all equivalent in T-cell receptor excision circle content, a marker for the replicative history of a cell as well as for de novo T cells. We therefore used CD45RA ؉ CD45RO ؊ expression to define naive T cells in this study. We demonstrate that although untreated or IL-2-treated naive T cells are not productively infected by HIV, IL-7 pretreatment mediated the productive infection of laboratory-adapted, M-tropic, and primary isolates of HIV as determined by p24 core antigen production. This upregulation was between 8-and 58-fold, depending on the HIV isolate used. IL-7 pretreatment of naive T cells also potently up-regulated surface expression of CXCR4 but not CCR5 and mediated the expansion of naive T cells without the acquisition of the primed CD45RO phenotype. Collectively, these data indicate that IL-7 augments naive T-cell susceptibility to HIV and that under the appropriate environmental milieu, naive T cells may be a source of HIV productive infection. This information needs to be considered in evaluating IL-7 as an immunomodulator for HIV-infected patients. IntroductionCD4 ϩ primed/memory T cells constitute the main target for productive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. [1][2][3] Whether HIV productively infects naive T cells in vivo is still controversial. 4-9 Naive T cells were shown to harbor replicationcompetent HIV, 7,10 but are not an active site of HIV replication in the absence of mitogen stimulation. 11 Even in studies demonstrating HIV infection of naive T cells, further analysis of integrated HIV indicated that HIV DNA did not always integrate into the genome. 5,10 Infected naive T cells, nonetheless, have been identified in HIV-seropositive individuals, 7,10 but it is unclear if such in vivo naive T cells were once primed cells that reverted to a naive phenotype 12,13 or are truly naive T cells that are infected in vivo. In the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) model, SIV RNA was detected by in situ hybridization in naive T cells, suggesting that these cells may serve as an additional reservoir for HIV. 14 Collectively, the consensus is that naive T cells, either in vivo or in vitro, do not support HIV productive infection mainly because these cells exist in a quiescent stage, a concept that is being challenged. The association between productive HIV replication and cell turnover is presumably due to the higher level of deoxyribonucleotides present for reverse transcription 15 during cell division or due to t...

Background & aims-5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is a mainstay therapeutic agent in chronic ulcerative colitis (CUC) where it reverses crypt architectural changes and reduces colitis-associated cancer (CAC). The present study addressed the possibility that 5-ASA reduces β-catenin-associated progenitor cell activation, Akt-phosphorylated β-catenin Ser552 (P-β-catenin), and colitis-induced dysplasia (CID).

Background: Decreased intestinal perfusion may contribute to the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an angiogenic protein necessary for the development and maintenance of capillary networks. Whether VEGF is dysregulated in NEC remains unknown. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine whether intestinal VEGF expression is altered in a neonatal mouse model of NEC and in human NEC patients. Methods: We first assessed changes of intestinal VEGF mRNA and protein in a neonatal mouse NEC model before significant injury occurs. We then examined whether exposure to formula feeding, bacterial inoculation, cold stress and/or intermittent hypoxia affected intestinal VEGF expression. Last, we visualized VEGF protein in intestinal tissues of murine and human NEC and control cases by immunohistochemistry. Results: Intestinal VEGF protein and mRNA were significantly decreased in pups exposed to the NEC protocol compared to controls. Hypoxia, cold stress and commensal bacteria, when administered together, significantly downregulated intestinal VEGF expression, while they had no significant effect when given alone. VEGF was localized to a few single intestinal epithelial cells and some cells of the lamina propria and myenteric plexus. VEGF staining was decreased in murine and human NEC intestines when compared to control tissues. Conclusion: Intestinal VEGF protein is reduced in human and experimental NEC. Decreased VEGF production might contribute to NEC pathogenesis.