Published in

Rockefeller University Press, Journal of Experimental Medicine, 4(217), 2020

DOI: 10.1084/jem.20190762

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

The colonic macrophage transcription factor RBP-J orchestrates intestinal immunity against bacterial pathogens

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Macrophages play pleiotropic roles in maintaining the balance between immune tolerance and inflammatory responses in the gut. Here, we identified transcription factor RBP-J as a crucial regulator of colonic macrophage–mediated immune responses against the enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. In the immune response phase, RBP-J promoted pathogen clearance by enhancing intestinal macrophage-elicited Th17 cell immune responses, which was achieved by maintenance of C/EBPβ-dependent IL-6 production by overcoming miRNA-17∼92–mediated suppressive effects. RBP-J deficiency–associated phenotypes could be genetically corrected by further deleting miRNA-17∼92 in macrophages. In the late phase, noneradicated pathogens in RBP-J KO mice recruited abundant IL-1β–expressing CD64+Ly6C+ colonic macrophages and thereby promoted persistence of ILC3-derived IL-22 to compensate for the impaired innate and adaptive immune responses, leading to ultimate clearance of pathogens. These results demonstrated that colonic macrophage–intrinsic RBP-J dynamically orchestrates intestinal immunity against pathogen infections by interfacing with key immune cells of T and innate lymphoid cell lineages.