BackgroundInfections may be associated with exacerbation of allergic and autoimmune diseases. Paradoxically, epidemiological and experimental data have shown that some microorganisms can also prevent these pathologies. This observation is at the origin of the hygiene hypothesis according to which the decline of infections in western countries is at the origin of the increased incidence of both Th1-mediated autoimmune diseases and Th2-mediated allergic diseases over the last decades. We have tested whether Toll-like receptor (TLR) stimulation can recapitulate the protective effect of infectious agents on allergy and autoimmunity.Methods and FindingsHere, we performed a systematic study of the disease-modifying effects of a set of natural or synthetic TLR agonists using two experimental models, ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma and spontaneous autoimmune diabetes, presenting the same genetic background of the non obese diabetic mouse (NOD) that is highly susceptible to both pathologies. In the same models, we also investigated the effect of probiotics. Additionally, we examined the effect of the genetic invalidation of MyD88 on the development of allergic asthma and spontaneous diabetes. We demonstrate that multiple TLR agonists prevent from both allergy and autoimmunity when administered parenterally. Probiotics which stimulate TLRs also protect from these two diseases. The physiological relevance of these findings is further suggested by the major acceleration of OVA-induced asthma in MyD88 invalidated mice. Our results strongly indicate that the TLR-mediated effects involve immunoregulatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and different subsets of regulatory T cells, notably CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T cells for TLR4 agonists and NKT cells for TLR3 agonists.Conclusions/SignificanceThese observations demonstrate that systemic administration of TLR ligands can suppress both allergic and autoimmune responses. They provide a plausible explanation for the hygiene hypothesis. They also open new therapeutic perspectives for the prevention of these pathologies.

The onset of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice is delayed by oral administration of a bacterial extract (OM-85) and can be completely prevented by its intraperitoneal administration. Optimal prevention is observed when starting treatment at 3 or 6 weeks of age, and some effect is still observed with treatment at 10 weeks of age. Using genetically deficient mice and cytokine-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, we demonstrate here that the therapeutic effect does not involve T-helper type 2 cytokines (interleu- kin

It has been documented that TLR7 stimulation triggers not only antiviral responses, but also alleviates experimental asthma. Considering the implication of invariant NKT (iNKT) cells in both situations, we postulated that they might contribute to the anti-inflammatory effect of TLR7 ligands. We show in this study that spleen cells activated by the TLR7 agonist resiquimod (R848) attenuate allergic inflammation upon adoptive transfer when they are recovered from wild-type, but not from iNKT cell-deficient Jα18−/− mice, which proves the specific involvement of this regulatory population. Furthermore, we provide evidence that IFN-γ is critical for the protective effect, which is lost when transferred iNKT cells are sorted from IFN-γ–deficient mice. In support of a direct activation of iNKT cells through TLR7 signaling in vivo, we observed a prompt increase of serum IFN-γ levels, associated with upregulation of CD69 expression on iNKT cells. Moreover, we demonstrate that iNKT cells effectively express TLR7 and respond to R848 in vitro by producing high levels of IFN-γ in the presence of IL-12, consistent with the conclusion that their contribution to the alleviation of allergic inflammation upon treatment with TLR7 ligands is mediated through IFN-γ.