Perinatal foodborne titanium dioxide exposure-mediated dysbiosis predisposes mice to develop colitis through life

BACKGROUND

Perinatal exposure to titanium dioxide (TiO2), as a foodborne particle, may influence the intestinal barrier function and the susceptibility to develop inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) later in life. Here, we investigate the impact of perinatal foodborne TiO2 exposure on the intestinal mucosal function and the susceptibility to develop IBD-associated colitis. Pregnant and lactating mother mice were exposed to TiO2 until pups weaning and the gut microbiota and intestinal barrier function of their offspring was assessed at day 30 post-birth (weaning) and at adult age (50 days). Epigenetic marks was studied by DNA methylation profile measuring the level of 5-methyl-2'-deoxycytosine (5-Me-dC) in DNA from colic epithelial cells. The susceptibility to develop IBD has been monitored using dextran-sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model. Germ-free mice were used to define whether microbial transfer influence the mucosal homeostasis and subsequent exacerbation of DSS-induced colitis.

RESULTS

In pregnant and lactating mice, foodborne TiO2 was able to translocate across the host barriers including gut, placenta and mammary gland to reach embryos and pups, respectively. This passage modified the chemical element composition of foetus, and spleen and liver of mothers and their offspring. We showed that perinatal exposure to TiO2 early in life alters the gut microbiota composition, increases the intestinal epithelial permeability and enhances the colonic cytokines and myosin light chain kinase expression. Moreover, perinatal exposure to TiO2 also modifies the abilities of intestinal stem cells to survive, grow and generate a functional epithelium. Maternal TiO2 exposure increases the susceptibility of offspring mice to develop severe DSS-induced colitis later in life. Finally, transfer of TiO2-induced microbiota dysbiosis to pregnant germ-free mice affects the homeostasis of the intestinal mucosal barrier early in life and confers an increased susceptibility to develop colitis in adult offspring.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that foodborne TiO2 consumption during the perinatal period has negative long-lasting consequences on the development of the intestinal mucosal barrier toward higher colitis susceptibility. This demonstrates to which extent environmental factors influence the microbial-host interplay and impact the long-term mucosal homeostasis.

Proenkephalin deletion in hematopoietic cells induces intestinal barrier failure resulting in clinical feature similarities with irritable bowel syndrome in mice

Opioid-dependent immune-mediated analgesic effects have been broadly reported upon inflammation. In preclinical mouse models of intestinal inflammatory diseases, the local release of enkephalins (endogenous opioids) by colitogenic T lymphocytes alleviate inflammation-induced pain by down-modulating gut-innervating nociceptor activation in periphery. In this study, we wondered whether this immune cell-derived enkephalin-mediated regulation of the nociceptor activity also operates under steady state conditions. Here, we show that chimeric mice engrafted with enkephalin-deficient bone marrow cells exhibit not only visceral hypersensitivity but also an increase in both epithelial paracellular and transcellular permeability, an alteration of the microbial topography resulting in increased bacteria-epithelium interactions and a higher frequency of IgA-producing plasma cells in Peyer's patches. All these alterations of the intestinal homeostasis are associated with an anxiety-like behavior despite the absence of an overt inflammation as observed in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Thus, our results show that immune cell-derived enkephalins play a pivotal role in maintaining gut homeostasis and normal behavior in mice. Because a defect in the mucosal opioid system remarkably mimics some major clinical symptoms of the irritable bowel syndrome, its identification might help to stratify subgroups of patients.

Chemically diverse activity-based probes with unexpected inhibitory mechanisms targeting trypsin-like serine proteases

Activity-based probes (ABP) are molecules that bind covalently to the active form of an enzyme family, making them an attractive tool for target and biomarker identification and drug discovery. The present study describes the synthesis and biochemical characterization of novel activity-based probes targeting trypsin-like serine proteases. We developed an extensive library of activity-based probes with "clickable" affinity tags and a diaryl phosphonate warhead. A wide diversity was achieved by including natural amino acid analogs as well as basic polar residues as side chains. A detailed enzymatic characterization was performed in a panel of trypsin-like serine proteases. Their inhibitory potencies and kinetic profile were examined, and their IC₅₀ values, mechanism of inhibition, and kinetic constants were determined. The activity-based probes with a benzyl guanidine side chain showed the highest inhibitory effects in the panel. Surprisingly, some of the high-affinity probes presented a reversible inhibitory mechanism. On the other hand, probes with different side chains exhibited the expected irreversible mechanism. For the first time, we demonstrate that not only irreversible probes but also reversible probes can tightly label recombinant proteases and proteases released from human mast cells. Even under denaturing SDS-PAGE conditions, reversible slow-tight-binding probes can label proteases due to the formation of high-affinity complexes and slow dissociation rates. This unexpected finding will transform the view on the required irreversible nature of activity-based probes. The diversity of this library of activity-based probes combined with a detailed enzyme kinetic characterization will advance their applications in proteomic studies and drug discovery.

IL-17+ Mast Cell/T Helper Cell Axis in the Early Stages of Acne

Acne is a multifactorial disease driven by physiological changes occurring during puberty in the pilosebaceous unit (PSU) that leads to sebum overproduction and a dysbiosis involving notably Cutibacterium acnes. These changes in the PSU microenvironment lead to a shift from a homeostatic to an inflammatory state. Indeed, immunohistochemical analyses have revealed that inflammation and lymphocyte infiltration can be detected even in the infraclinical acneic stages, highlighting the importance of the early stages of the disease. In this study, we utilized a robust multi-pronged approach that included flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, and bioinformatics to comprehensively characterize the evolution of the infiltrating and resident immune cell populations in acneic lesions, beginning in the early stages of their development. Using a discovery cohort of 15 patients, we demonstrated that the composition of immune cell infiltrate is highly dynamic in nature, with the relative abundance of different cell types changing significantly as a function of clinical lesion stage. Within the stages examined, we identified a large population of CD69⁺ CD4⁺ T cells, several populations of activated antigen presenting cells, and activated mast cells producing IL-17. IL-17⁺ mast cells were preferentially located in CD4⁺ T cell rich areas and we showed that activated CD4⁺ T cells license mast cells to produce IL-17. Our study reveals that mast cells are the main IL-17 producers in the early stage of acne, underlying the importance of targeting the IL-17⁺ mast cell/T helper cell axis in therapeutic approaches.