MicroRNA-155–deficient dendritic cells cause less severe GVHD through reduced migration and defective inflammasome activation

S Chen, BAH Smith, J Iype, A Prestipino… - Blood, The Journal …, 2015 - ashpublications.org
S Chen, BAH Smith, J Iype, A Prestipino, D Pfeifer, S Grundmann, A Schmitt-Graeff, M Idzko…
Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 2015ashpublications.org
The successful treatment of acute leukemias with allogeneic hematopoietic cell
transplantation (allo-HCT) is limited by acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Because
microRNA-155 (miR-155) regulates activation of the innate immune system, we aimed to
determine its function in dendritic cells (DCs) during GVHD in an experimental model. We
observed that miR-155 deficiency of the recipient led to improved survival, reduced serum
levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and lower GVHD histopathology scores. In addition …
Abstract
The successful treatment of acute leukemias with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is limited by acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Because microRNA-155 (miR-155) regulates activation of the innate immune system, we aimed to determine its function in dendritic cells (DCs) during GVHD in an experimental model. We observed that miR-155 deficiency of the recipient led to improved survival, reduced serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and lower GVHD histopathology scores. In addition, miR-155−/− bone marrow chimeric mice receiving allo-HCT and miR-155−/− DCs showed that miR-155 deficiency in the DC compartment was responsible for protection from GVHD. Activated miR-155−/− DCs displayed lower expression of various purinergic receptors and impaired migration toward adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Microarray analysis of lipopolysaccharide/ATP-stimulated miR-155−/− DCs revealed mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway dysregulation and reduced inflammasome-associated gene expression. Consistent with this gene expression data, we observed reduced ERK activation, caspase-1 cleavage, and IL-1β production in miR-155−/− DCs. The connection between miR-155 and inflammasome activation was supported by the fact that Nlrp3/miR-155 double-knockout allo-HCT recipient mice had no increased protection from GVHD compared with Nlrp3−/− recipients. This study indicates that during GVHD, miR-155 promotes DC migration toward sites of ATP release accompanied by inflammasome activation. Inhibiting proinflammatory miR-155 by antagomir treatment could help reduce this complication of allo-HCT.
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