In this study, Affo et al. determine origin and functions of cancer-associated fibroblasts in the liver and uncover distinct subsets that promote the growth of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma via different therapeutically targetable mediators. Upon publication of the original article, we realized that we had inadvertently omitted Dr.
Schistosomiasis is a nontransplacental helminth infection. Chronic infection during pregnancy suppresses allergic airway responses in offspring.We addressed the question whether in utero exposure to chronic schistosome infection (Reg phase) in mice affects B-cell and T-cell development. Therefore, we focused our analyses on T-cell differentiation capacity induced by epigenetic changes in promoter regions of signature cytokines in offspring.
Here, we show that naïve T cells from offspring of schistosome infected female mice had a strong capacity to differentiate into T H 1 cells, whereas T H 2 differentiation was impaired. In accordance, reduced levels of histone acetylation of the IL-4 promoter regions were observed in naïve T cells. To conclude, our mouse model revealed distinct epigenetic changes within the naïve T-cell compartment affecting T H 2 and T H 1 cell differentiation in offspring of mothers with chronic helminth infection. These findings could eventually help understand how helminths alter T-cell driven immune responses induced by allergens, bacterial or viral infections, as well as vaccines.Keywords: Epigenetic histone modification r In utero programming r Maternal helminth infection r Schistosomiasis r T-cell differentiation Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article at the publisher's web-site Over the last century and in strong contrast to developing countries, a continuous rise in allergic diseases, such as asthma, is observed in industrialized countries [1]. It is currently discussed whether helminthic parasites contribute to the low prevalence of allergic diseases in parasite endemic areas [2] due to their well-known ability to suppress bystander immune responses * These authors contributed equally to this work.
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