The RAR-related orphan receptor gamma t (RORγt) is a nuclear receptor required for generating IL-17-producing CD4 + Th17 T cells, which are essential in host defense and may play key pathogenic roles in autoimmune diseases. Oxysterols elicit profound effects on immune and inflammatory responses as well as on cholesterol and lipid metabolism. Here, we describe the identification of several naturally occurring oxysterols as RORγt agonists. The most potent and selective activator for RORγt is 7β, 27-dihydroxycholesterol (7β, 27-OHC). We show that these oxysterols reverse the inhibitory effect of an RORγt antagonist, ursolic acid, in RORγ-or RORγt-dependent cell-based reporter assays. These ligands bind directly to recombinant RORγ ligand binding domain (LBD), promote recruitment of a coactivator peptide, and reduce binding of a corepressor peptide to RORγ LBD. In primary cells, 7β, 27-OHC and 7α, 27-OHC enhance the differentiation of murine and human IL-17-producing Th17 cells in an RORγt-dependent manner. Importantly, we showed that Th17, but not Th1 cells, preferentially produce these two oxysterols. In vivo, administration of 7β, 27-OHC in mice enhanced IL-17 production. Mice deficient in CYP27A1, a key enzyme in generating these oxysterols, showed significant reduction of IL-17-producing cells, including CD4+ and γδ + T cells, similar to the deficiency observed in RORγt knockout mice. Our results reveal a previously unknown mechanism for selected oxysterols as immune modulators and a direct role for CYP27A1 in generating these RORγt agonist ligands, which we propose as RORγt endogenous ligands, driving both innate and adaptive IL-17-dependent immune responses.

Persistent murine infection with Helicobacter hepaticus leads to chronic gastrointestinal inflammation and neoplasia in susceptible strains. To determine the role of the virulence factor cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) in the pathogenesis of this organism, interleukin-10-deficient (IL-10 ؊/؊ ) mice were experimentally infected with wild-type H. hepaticus and a CDT-deficient isogenic mutant. Both wild-type H. hepaticus and the CDTdeficient mutant successfully colonized IL-10 ؊/؊ mice, and they reached similar tissue levels by 6 weeks after infection. Only animals infected with wild-type type H. hepaticus developed significant typhlocolitis. However, by 4 months after infection, the CDT-deficient mutant was no longer detectable in IL-10 ؊/؊ mice, whereas wild-type H. hepaticus persisted for the 8-month duration of the experiment. Animals infected with wild-type H. hepaticus exhibited severe typhlocolitis at 8 months after infection, while animals originally challenged with the CDT-deficient mutant had minimal cecal inflammation at this time point. In follow-up experiments, animals that cleared infection with the CDT-deficient mutant were protected from rechallenge with either mutant or wild-type H. hepaticus. Animals infected with wild-type H. hepaticus developed serum immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) and IgG2c responses against H. hepaticus, while animals challenged with the CDT-deficient mutant developed significantly lower IgG2c responses and failed to mount IgG1 responses against H. hepaticus. These results suggest that CDT plays a key immunomodulatory role that allows persistence of H. hepaticus and that in IL-10 ؊/؊ mice this alteration of the host immune response results in the development of colitis.Helicobacter species are responsible for chronic human and veterinary infections (44). In humans, H. pylori infection can last for decades, associated with a subclinical gastritis. Longterm infection with H. pylori can lead to the development of neoplastic disease, including gastric cancer and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas (37).In addition to H. pylori and other gastric Helicobacter species, the enterohepatic Helicobacter species (EHS) have emerged as veterinary and human pathogens also associated with long-term infection and the development of neoplastic disease (13, 44). The EHS H. hepaticus was originally discovered as the causative agent for the development of chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular cancer in A/JCr mice (15, 46). It was subsequently determined that H. hepaticus infection in mice with altered immune function was also associated with the development of a condition that mimicked human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (3, 5, 22). Long-term infection with H. hepaticus in animals that develop IBD can lead to the development of colon cancer (9,10,28).H. hepaticus and a number of other EHS have been shown to produce a cytotoxin that is a member of the cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) family (4,52,54). CDT is a tripartite bacterial toxin that is encountered in a number of pathogenic gramnegati...

IntroductionFollicular lymphoma (FL) is a slowly progressive and largely incurable human B-cell malignancy. Transformation to a more aggressive lymphoma, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, is common and strongly associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality. A chromosomal translocation t(14:18) is the hallmark of this disease, and it is found in 85%-90% of cases. It results in the juxtaposition of the BCL2 proto-oncogene with the immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain gene, IGH, leading to deregulated overexpression of Bcl-2 protein, a major inhibitor of apoptosis. However, the t(14:18) translocation is insufficient to cause malignancy as it is detectable in rare B cells from healthy persons. 1-3 Thus, FL pathogenesis requires additional signals beyond that imparted by the deregulation of BCL2. The observation that FL cells isolated from patients fail to survive in vitro and undergo spontaneous apoptosis supports the hypothesis that extrinsic microenvironmental factors are required for maintenance and expansion of FL. 4 Phenotypically, FL tumor cells resemble antigen-experienced germinal center B cells. Their Ig genes, which are rearranged to produce a functional B-cell receptor (BCR), have numerous point mutations compared with their germline counterparts, and this process of somatic hypermutation (SHM) is ongoing as the malignant clone expands and diversifies. Thus, individual tumor cells can each have slightly different Ig variable region sequences. 5 Random mutations should eventually result in stop codons and loss of BCR protein expression. However, FL tumors maintain a surface BCR, indicating a selective force favoring retention of a functional BCR. Furthermore, therapy with anti-idiotype antibodies directed against the BCR did not select for the outgrowth of BCR-negative variants. Rather, this therapy selected for the outgrowth of cells that had amino acid substitutions in the targeted V region sequence, making them unrecognizable by the anti-idiotype antibody. 6 Other in vitro studies with malignant B-cell lines have shown that experimental knockdowns of the BCR and members of its signaling pathway result in growth arrest, implicating their importance in tumor cell survival. 7 The BCR can transmit a tonic survival signal, but this is greatly augmented on its binding to a cognate antigen. 8 There is indirect evidence to suggest that antigen recognition plays a role in the pathogenesis of FL. SHM can introduce silent or replacement mutations, the latter leading to an amino acid substitution. In a normal immune response, B cells with mutations resulting in higher binding affinity for the inciting antigen preferentially survive. This selective pressure leads to enrichment of replacement mutations in the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of the BCR, and an under representation of replacement mutations in the framework regions (FWRs). 9 This same distribution of replacement and silent mutations has been reported for the BCRs of FL cells, 5 and the intraclonal diversity resulting from ongoing SHM...

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Intracellular flow cytometry permits quantitation of diverse molecular targets at the single-cell level. However, limitations in detection sensitivity inherently restrict the method, sometimes resulting in the inability to measure proteins of very low abundance or to differentiate cells expressing subtly different protein concentrations. To improve these measurements, an enzymatic amplification approach called tyramide signal amplification (TSA) was optimized for assessment of intracellular kinase cascades. First, Pacific Blue, Pacific Orange, and Alexa Fluor 488 tyramide reporters were shown to exhibit low nonspecific binding in permeabilized cells. Next, the effects of antibody concentration, tyramide concentration, and reaction time on assay resolution were characterized. Use of optimized TSA resulted in a 10-fold or greater improvement in measurement resolution of endogenous Erk and Stat cell signaling pathways relative to standard, nonamplified detection. TSA also enhanced assay sensitivity and, in conjunction with fluorescent cell barcoding, improved assay performance according to a metric used to evaluate high-throughput drug screens. TSA was used to profile Stat1 phosphorylation in primary immune system cells, which revealed heterogeneity in various populations, including CD41 FoxP31 regulatory T cells. We anticipate the approach will be broadly applicable to intracellular flow cytometry assays with low signal-to-noise ratios. '