Eosinophils protect against acetaminophen-induced liver injury through cyclooxygenase-mediated IL-4/IL-13 production.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

A better understanding of the underlying mechanism of acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury (AILI) remains an important endeavor to develop therapeutic approaches. Eosinophils have been detected in liver biopsies of patients with APAP overdose. We recently demonstrated a profound protective role of eosinophils against AILI; however, the molecular mechanism had not been elucidated.

APPROACH AND RESULTS

In agreement with our previous data from experiments using genetic deletion of eosinophils, we found that depletion of eosinophils in wild-type (WT) mice by an anti-IL-15 antibody resulted in exacerbated AILI. Moreover, adoptive transfer of eosinophils significantly reduced liver injury and mortality rate in WT mice. Mechanistic studies using eosinophil-specific IL-4/IL-13 knockout mice demonstrated that these cytokines, through inhibiting interferon-γ, mediated the hepatoprotective function of eosinophils. Reverse phase protein array analyses and in vitro experiments using various inhibitors demonstrated that IL-33 stimulation of eosinophils activated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and in turn, cyclooxygenases (COX), which triggered NF-κB-mediated IL-4/IL-13 production. In vivo adoptive transfer experiments showed that in contrast to naive eosinophils, those pretreated with COX inhibitors failed to attenuate AILI.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study revealed that eosinophil-derived IL-4/IL-13 accounted for the hepatoprotective effect of eosinophils during AILI. The data demonstrated that the p38 MAPK/COX/NF-κB signaling cascade played a critical role in inducing IL-4/IL-13 production by eosinophils in response to IL-33.