Pregnancy and lactation interfere with the response of autoimmunity to modulation of gut microbiota

Microbiome

Haifeng Wang¹  Thomas E. Cecere²  Jiangdi Mao²  Qinghui Mu²  Leila Abdelhamid²  Xavier Cabana-Puig²  Christopher M. Reilly²  Xin M. Luo²  Brianna Swartwout³ 

[1] College of Animal Science, Key Laboratory of Molecular Animal Nutrition, Zhejiang University;Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech;Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Virginia Tech;

关键词: Lupus;    Pregnancy;    Gut microbiota;    Lactobacillus animalis;    IDO;    Treg;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40168-019-0720-8

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background Dysbiosis of gut microbiota exists in the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). Lupus patients who experienced pregnancy usually had more severe disease flares post-delivery. However, the possible role of gut microbiota in the link between pregnancy and exacerbation of lupus remains to be explored. Results In the classical lupus mouse model MRL/lpr, we compared the structures of gut microbiota in pregnant and lactating individuals vs. age-matched naïve mice. Consistent with studies on non-lupus mice, both pregnancy and lactation significantly changed the composition and diversity of gut microbiota. Strikingly, modulation of gut microbiota using the same strategy resulted in different disease outcomes in postpartum (abbreviated as “PP,” meaning that the mice had undergone pregnancy and lactation) vs. control (naïve; i.e., without pregnancy or lactation) MRL/lpr females; while vancomycin treatment attenuated lupus in naïve mice, it did not do so, or even exacerbated lupus, in PP mice. Lactobacillus animalis flourished in the gut upon vancomycin treatment, and direct administration of L. animalis via oral gavage recapitulated the differential effects of vancomycin in PP vs. control mice. An enzyme called indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase was significantly inhibited by L. animalis; however, this inhibition was only apparent in PP mice, which explained, at least partially, the lack of beneficial response to vancomycin in these mice. The differential production of immunosuppressive IL-10 and proinflammatory IFNγ in PP vs. control mice further explained why the disease phenotypes varied between the two types of mice bearing the same gut microbiota remodeling strategy. Conclusions These results suggest that pregnancy and lactation interfere with the response of autoimmunity to modulation of gut microbiota. Further studies are necessary to better understand the complex relationship between pregnancy and lupus.

【 授权许可】

Unknown