Endogenous IL-β Selectively Converts T Regulatory Cells Into IL-17 Producers During Antigen Stimulation

Abstract 586

A major challenge of the immune system is to fight pathogens and tumor antigens while preserving tolerance to self-antigen. T regulatory cells (Treg) are critical extrinsic regulators of immune tolerance and maintenance of lymphoid homeostasis. Recently it was determined that, when used as cell-based immunosuppressive therapy, Treg have a potent effect in preventing GvHD in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation. However, several studies suggest that the Treg phenotype is not at end stage of differentiation. Treg can express and produce effector cytokines including IFN-γ and IL-17 under certain conditions, particularly in the context of inflammatory milieu, suggesting that Treg may convert into inflammatory mediators. IL-1β and TNF-α are critical inflammatory cytokines that have been implicated in GvHD. The precise role and the mechanism(s) via which these cytokines may affect development of GvHD remain unclear. In the presence study, we sought to determine whether IL-1β and TNF-α regulate the properties of Treg and specifically whether these cytokines affect Treg expansion and/or conversion into IL-17 producing cells. CD4+CD25+Treg cells were isolated from B6 mice and were stimulated with anti-CD3-plus-anti-CD28 mAbs in the presence of either media, IL-1β or TNF-α. Addition of either cytokine induced Treg proliferation as determined by CFSE. Assessment of intracellular IL-17 expression by flow cytometry and IL-17 production by ELISA revealed that IL-1β but not TNF-α induced conversion of Treg into IL-17 producing cells, suggesting that conversion was mediated via pathways distinct from those that regulate cell cycle progression. To evaluate conversion of Treg to IL-17 producers during antigen stimulation and to determine the role of IL-1β in this process, we used neutral culture conditions in which no exogenous cytokines were supplied. Treg cells isolated from Foxp3GFP-KI mouse were added to cultures of naive conventional CD4+ T cells (Tc) in the presence of APC and anti-CD3 mAb. We found that these conditions preferentially induced conversion of Treg to IL-17 producing cells. To determine the role of IL-1β in this conversion process, we used IL-1β neutralizing antibody. Addition of anti-IL-1β neutralizing antibody reduced IL-17 production to almost undetectable levels. Because it has exogenous IL-6 can induce IL-17 production by both Treg and Tc, we evaluated whether endogenous IL-6 was involved in the conversion of Treg into IL-17 producing cells in our system. Addition of a combination of IL-6 neutralizing and IL-6 receptor blocking antibodies did not affect IL-17 production, suggesting that the conversion process of Treg into IL-17 producing cells was dependent on endogenous IL-1β rather than IL-6. To determine whether IL-1β was mandatory for this process, we used T cells from IL-1R deficient mice. Individual culture of IL−1R−/− Tc or IL-1R−/− Treg with wild type (wt) APC and co-culture of IL-1R−/− Tc and IL-1R−/− Treg with wt APC did not result in detectable IL-17 production. Similarly, no IL-17 production was observed when wt instead of IL-1R−/− Tc were used. In contrast, substitution of IL-1R−/− Treg with wt Treg resulted in abundant IL-17 production. To investigate the in vivo biological relevance of our findings we adoptively transferred Treg cells from either congenic B6.PL mice or IL-1R1−/− mice into IL-1R1−/− recipients, which were then immunized with KLH in IFA. Three days after immunization both IL-1R−/− Treg and IL-1R−/− Tc cells were incapable of producing detectable levels of IL-17 or expressing RORγt, the key transcriptional factor of IL-17. In contrast, a significant percentage of IL-17 and RORγt positive cells were detected within the adoptively transferred Thy1.1+ Treg population. Mechanistic analysis revealed that IL-1β induced activation of p38 and JNK in Treg and addition of pharmacologic inhibitors specific for these MAPKs abrogated IL-17 production. Our studies reveal that although Treg have primarily immunosuppressive functions they may also facilitate pro-inflammatory responses as they can be converted into IL-17 producing cells by IL-1β. These observations may have significant implications on clinical strategies that employ Treg for control of GvHD and suggest that further intervention might be required to prevent attainment of pro-inflammatory properties by Treg while maintaining their suppressive function.