Investigating the Role of Type I IFNs in OSM-Mediated Pulmonary Inflammation

Abstract

Immune responses during lung infections must be tightly regulated in order to permit pathogen eradication while maintaining organ function. Although mechanisms involve complex networks of cytokines, the interferon (IFN) response has been shown to be an important driver of lung inflammation. Type I IFNs consist of a group of structurally similar cytokines that are produced during virus infection and are an integral part in regulating the immune response. However, in response to certain stimuli, type I IFNs have also been found to be central in the initiation of lung inflammatory responses by inducing the recruitment and activation of immune cells and thus may contribute to disease severity. Another cytokine that has been associated with chronic lung inflammation is the gp130 cytokine, Oncostatin M. Transient pulmonary overexpression of Oncostatin M by Adenovirus vector (AdOSM) induces lung inflammation biased toward Th2 cytokines associated with eosinophilia and alternatively activated (AA/M2) macrophage accumulation. Here we demonstrated that C57Bl/6 mice deficient of the type I interferon receptor (IFNAR1-/-), were less responsive against a suboptimal dose of AdOSM at day 7 post infection compared to AdOSM-treated wild-type. We observed a significant reduction in OSM mRNA and protein levels in AdOSM-treated IFNAR1-/- mice, compared to treated wild-type, which resulted in significant attenuation in OSM-induced inflammatory cell infiltration, epithelial hyperplasia, and alveolar wall thickening. Furthermore, IL-6 overexpression (as a comparator gp130 cytokine), induced lymphocyte accumulation in IFNAR1-/- mice, but at significantly lower levels than AdIL-6-treated wild-type. These results demonstrate that cross talk between IFNAR and gp130 cytokine signaling were required for maximal AdOSM- and AdIL-6-mediated pulmonary inflammation. We also observed that IFNAR1 deficiency directly and negatively regulated OSM-mediated responses in vitro. OSM-induced pSTAT3 levels were consistently lower in murine and human IFNAR1-deficient fibroblasts, compared to OSM-stimulated wild-type cells. This was associated with diminished OSM-induced IL-6 and MCP-1 production from IFNAR1-/- fibroblasts. Furthermore, we found that the combination of OSM and IFN-α led to increased IL-6 production from C57Bl/6 and BALB/c-derived Mouse Lung Fibroblasts (MLFs) then when either cytokine was used alone suggesting that these two cytokines can work in concert. Our findings are the first to suggest that IFNAR signaling participates in OSM-mediated responses in vitro and is required for maximal AdOSM-induced pulmonary inflammation in vivo.