Center for Inborn Errors of Immunity, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Nature. 2023 Mar;615(7951):305-314. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05736-y. Epub 2023 Feb 22.
Down's syndrome (DS) presents with a constellation of cardiac, neurocognitive and growth impairments. Individuals with DS are also prone to severe infections and autoimmunity including thyroiditis, type 1 diabetes, coeliac disease and alopecia areata. Here, to investigate the mechanisms underlying autoimmune susceptibility, we mapped the soluble and cellular immune landscape of individuals with DS. We found a persistent elevation of up to 22 cytokines at steady state (at levels often exceeding those in patients with acute infection) and detected basal cellular activation: chronic IL-6 signalling in CD4 T cells and a high proportion of plasmablasts and CD11cTbetCD21 B cells (Tbet is also known as TBX21). This subset is known to be autoimmune-prone and displayed even greater autoreactive features in DS including receptors with fewer non-reference nucleotides and higher IGHV4-34 utilization. In vitro, incubation of naive B cells in the plasma of individuals with DS or with IL-6-activated T cells resulted in increased plasmablast differentiation compared with control plasma or unstimulated T cells, respectively. Finally, we detected 365 auto-antibodies in the plasma of individuals with DS, which targeted the gastrointestinal tract, the pancreas, the thyroid, the central nervous system, and the immune system itself. Together, these data point to an autoimmunity-prone state in DS, in which a steady-state cytokinopathy, hyperactivated CD4 T cells and ongoing B cell activation all contribute to a breach in immune tolerance. Our findings also open therapeutic paths, as we demonstrate that T cell activation is resolved not only with broad immunosuppressants such as Jak inhibitors, but also with the more tailored approach of IL-6 inhibition.
唐氏综合征(Down's syndrome,DS)表现为心脏、神经认知和生长障碍的综合症状。患有 DS 的个体也容易受到严重感染和自身免疫的影响,包括甲状腺炎、1 型糖尿病、乳糜泻和斑秃。在这里,为了研究自身免疫易感性的机制,我们绘制了 DS 个体的可溶性和细胞免疫图谱。我们发现,在稳定状态下,多达 22 种细胞因子持续升高(水平常常超过急性感染患者的水平),并检测到基础细胞活化:CD4 T 细胞中的慢性 IL-6 信号和高比例的浆母细胞和 CD11cTbetCD21 B 细胞(Tbet 也称为 TBX21)。已知该亚群易发生自身免疫,并且在 DS 中表现出更大的自身反应性特征,包括具有较少非参考核苷酸和更高 IGHV4-34 利用率的受体。在体外,与对照血浆或未刺激的 T 细胞相比,在 DS 个体的血浆或经 IL-6 激活的 T 细胞中孵育幼稚 B 细胞会导致浆母细胞分化增加。最后,我们在 DS 个体的血浆中检测到 365 种自身抗体,这些抗体针对胃肠道、胰腺、甲状腺、中枢神经系统和免疫系统本身。总之,这些数据表明 DS 存在自身免疫倾向状态,其中稳态细胞因子病、过度活化的 CD4 T 细胞和持续的 B 细胞活化都导致免疫耐受的破坏。我们的研究结果还开辟了治疗途径,因为我们证明 T 细胞活化不仅可以通过广泛的免疫抑制剂(如 Jak 抑制剂)得到解决,而且还可以通过更具针对性的 IL-6 抑制来解决。
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