Leon Hosang 1, Roger Cugota Canals 1, Felicia Joy van der Flier 1, Jacqueline Hollensteiner 2, Rolf Daniel 2, Alexander Flügel # 3, Francesca Odoardi # 4 5
Affiliations
- 1Institute for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
- 2Department of Genomic and Applied Microbiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
- 3Institute for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. fluegel@med.uni-goettingen.de.
- 4Institute for Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. odoardi@med.uni-goettingen.de.
- 5Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. odoardi@med.uni-goettingen.de.
- #Contributed equally.
PMID: 35197636 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04427-4
Abstract
Lung infections and smoking are risk factors for multiple sclerosis, a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease of the central nervous system1. In addition, the lung serves as a niche for the disease-inducing T cells for long-term survival and for maturation into migration-competent effector T cells2. Why the lung tissue in particular has such an important role in an autoimmune disease of the brain is not yet known. Here we detected a tight interconnection between the lung microbiota and the immune reactivity of the brain. A dysregulation in the lung microbiome significantly influenced the susceptibility of rats to developing autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Shifting the microbiota towards lipopolysaccharide-enriched phyla by local treatment with neomycin induced a type-I-interferon-primed state in brain-resident microglial cells. Their responsiveness towards autoimmune-dominated stimulation by type II interferons was impaired, which led to decreased proinflammatory response, immune cell recruitment and clinical signs. Suppressing lipopolysaccharide-producing lung phyla with polymyxin B led to disease aggravation, whereas addition of lipopolysaccharide-enriched phyla or lipopolysaccharide recapitulated the neomycin effect. Our data demonstrate the existence of a lung-brain axis in which the pulmonary microbiome regulates the immune reactivity of the central nervous tissue and thereby influences its susceptibility to autoimmune disease development.
