Intestinal epithelial MHC class II induces encephalitogenic CD4 T cells and initiates central nervous system autoimmunity - PubMed
5 hours ago
- #neuroinflammation
- #autoimmunity
- #intestinal epithelium
- Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) upregulate antigen presentation pathways and are linked to increased intestinal T helper 17 (TH17) cell accumulation in both experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.
- High expression of epithelial MHC class II, especially in the ileum, during EAE is crucial for generating pathogenic TH17 cells, and its conditional deletion reduces disease severity.
- TH17 cells induced in the intestinal lamina propria migrate to the spinal cord, and IEC organoids presenting myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antigen can induce RORγt+CD4+ T cell differentiation in an MHC II-dependent manner.
- The findings highlight a conserved gut-central nervous system axis in autoimmunity, positioning epithelial antigen presentation as a key initiator of neuroinflammation.