SummaryThe integrated stress response (ISR) is a homeostatic mechanism by which eukaryotic cells sense and respond to stress-inducing signals, such as amino acid starvation. General controlled nonrepressed (GCN2) kinase is a key orchestrator of the ISR, and modulates cellular metabolism in response to amino acid starvation. Here we demonstrate that GCN2 controls intestinal inflammation by suppressing inflammasome activation. Enhanced activation of ISR was observed in intestinal antigen presenting cells (APCs) and epithelial cells during amino acid starvation, or intestinal inflammation. Genetic deletion of GCN2 in CD11c+ APCs or intestinal epithelial cells resulted in enhanced intestinal inflammation and Th17 responses, due to enhanced inflammasome activation and IL-1β production. This was caused by reduced autophagy in GCN2−/− intestinal APCs and epithelial cells, leading to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), a potent activator of inflammasomes1. Thus, conditional ablation of Atg5 and Atg7 in intestinal APCs resulted in enhanced ROS and Th17 responses. Furthermore, in vivo blockade of ROS and IL-1β resulted in inhibition of Th17 responses and reduced inflammation in GCN2−/− mice. Importantly, acute amino acid starvation suppressed intestinal inflammation via a mechanism dependent on GCN2. These results reveal a mechanism that couples amino acid sensing with control of intestinal inflammation via GCN2.

The inflammatory response to lung infections must be tightly regulated, enabling pathogen elimination while maintaining crucial gas exchange. Using recently described “depletion of regulatory T cell” (DEREG) mice, we found that selective depletion of regulatory T cells (Tregs) during acute respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection enhanced viral clearance but increased weight loss, local cytokine and chemokine release, and T-cell activation and cellular influx into the lungs. Conversely, inflammation was decreased when Treg numbers and activity were boosted using interleukin-2 immune complexes. Unexpectedly, lung (but not draining lymph node) Tregs from RSV-infected mice expressed granzyme B (GzmB), and bone marrow chimeric mice with selective loss of GzmB in the Treg compartment displayed markedly enhanced cellular infiltration into the lung after infection. A crucial role for GzmB-expressing Tregs has not hitherto been described in the lung or during acute infections, but may explain the inability of children with perforin/GzmB defects to regulate immune responses to infection. The effects of RSV infection in mice with defective immune regulation closely parallel the observed effects of RSV in children with bronchiolitis, suggesting that the pathogenesis of bronchiolitis may involve an inability to regulate virus-induced inflammation.

The yellow fever vaccine YF-17D is one of the most successful vaccines ever developed in humans. Despite its efficacy and widespread use in more than 600 million people, the mechanisms by which it stimulates protective immunity remain poorly understood. Recent studies using systems biology approaches in humans have revealed that YF-17D–induced early expression of general control nonderepressible 2 kinase (GCN2) in the blood strongly correlates with the magnitude of the later CD8+ T cell response. We demonstrate a key role for virus-induced GCN2 activation in programming dendritic cells to initiate autophagy and enhanced antigen presentation to both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. These results reveal an unappreciated link between virus-induced integrated stress response in dendritic cells and the adaptive immune response.

Interleukin (IL-) 10 is a pleiotropic cytokine with broad immunosuppressive functions, particularly at mucosal sites such as the intestine and lung. Here we demonstrate that infection of BALB/c mice with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) induced IL-10 production by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the airways at later time points (e.g. day 8); a proportion of these cells also co-produced IFN-γ. Furthermore, RSV infection of IL-10−/− mice resulted in more severe disease with enhanced weight loss, delayed recovery and greater cell infiltration of the respiratory tract without affecting viral load. In addition, IL-10−/− mice had a pronounced airway neutrophilia and heightened levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Notably, the proportion of lung T cells producing IFN-γ was enhanced, suggesting that IL-10 may act in an autocrine manner to dampen effector T cell responses. Similar findings were made in mice treated with anti-IL-10R antibody and infected with RSV. Therefore, IL-10 inhibits disease and inflammation in mice infected with RSV, especially during recovery from infection.

Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) occupy diverse anatomical tissues, but their tissue-restricted homeostasis remains poorly understood. Here, working in mouse models of inflammation, we found that mTOR-dependent metabolic adaptation was required at discrete locations. mTOR was dispensable for DC homeostasis in secondary lymphoid tissues but necessary to regulate cellular metabolism and accumulation of CD103+ DCs and alveolar macrophages in lung. Moreover, while numbers of mTOR-deficient lung CD11b+ DCs were not changed, they were metabolically reprogrammed to skew allergic inflammation from eosinophilic Th2 to neutrophilic Th17 polarity. The mechanism for this change was independent of translational control but dependent on inflammatory DC, which produced IL-23 and increased fatty acid oxidation. mTOR therefore mediates metabolic adaptation of APCs in distinct tissues, influencing the immunological character of allergic inflammation.

During viral infection, inflammation and recovery are tightly controlled by competing proinflammatory and regulatory immune pathways. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading global cause of infantile bronchiolitis, which is associated with recurrent wheeze and asthma diagnosis in later life. Th2-driven disease has been well described under some conditions for RSV-infected mice. In the present studies, we used the Foxp3DTR mice (which allow specific conditional depletion of Foxp3+ T cells) to investigate the functional effects of regulatory T cells (Tregs) during A2-strain RSV infection. Infected Treg-depleted mice lost significantly more weight than wild-type mice, indicating enhanced disease. This enhancement was characterized by increased cellularity in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and notable lung eosinophilia not seen in control mice. This was accompanied by abundant CD4+ and CD8+ T cells exhibiting an activated phenotype and induction of interleukin 13 (IL-13)- and GATA3-expressing Th2-type CD4+ T cells that remained present in the airways even 14 days after infection. Therefore, Treg cells perform vital anti-inflammatory functions during RSV infection, suppressing pathogenic T cell responses and inhibiting lung eosinophilia. These findings provide additional evidence that dysregulation of normal immune responses to viral infection may contribute to severe RSV disease.

Human trials of formaldehyde-inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (FI-RSV) vaccine in 1966–1967 caused disastrous worsening of disease and death in infants during subsequent natural respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. The reasons behind vaccine-induced augmentation are only partially understood, and fear of augmentation continues to hold back vaccine development. We now show that mice vaccinated with FI-RSV show enhanced local recruitment of conventional CD4 + T cells accompanied by a profound loss of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the airways. This loss of Tregs was so complete that additional depletion of Tregs (in transgenic depletion of regulatory T-cell mice) produced no additional disease enhancement. Transfer of conventional CD4 + T cells from FI-RSV–vaccinated mice into naive RSV-infected recipients also caused a reduction in airway Treg responses; boosting Tregs with IL-2 immune complexes failed to restore normal levels of Tregs or to ameliorate disease. However, delivery of chemokine ligands (CCL) 17/22 via the airway selectively recruited airway Tregs and attenuated vaccine-augmented disease, reducing weight loss and inhibiting local recruitment of pathogenic CD4 + T cells. These findings reveal an unexpected mechanism of vaccine-induced disease augmentation and indicate that selective chemoattraction of Tregs into diseased sites may offer a novel approach to the modulation of tissue-specific inflammation.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a clear role in chronic infections and inflammatory disorders, but their role in acute infections have not been fully elucidated. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infection in infants, resulting in over-exuberant immune responses. In order to examine the role of Tregs in primary RSV primary infection, we infected “Depletion of regulatory T cells” (DEREG) mice which express the diphteria toxin (DT) receptor enhanced GFP fusion protein under the control of FOXP3 gene locus. Injections of DT ablated Tregs, and depletion prior to RSV primary infection caused increased weight loss and increased influx of cells into the lung and the airways (bronchioalveolar lavage, BAL) with lung and BAL showing elevated numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells on d4, d8 and d14 post RSV infection. Interestingly, Treg depletion also caused an increase in neutrophils and eosinophils in the airways. Therefore, Tregs do not only control the magnitude of the T cell response, but also the quality of the responses that follow. The effects of RSV infection in mice with defective immune regulation closely parallels the observed effects of RSV in children with bronchiolitis, suggesting that the pathogenesis of bronchiolitis may involve an inability to regulate virus-induced inflammation