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Asthma, an inflammatory disorder of the airways, is one of the most common chronic illnesses worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity. There is growing recognition of an association between asthma and mood disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Although there are several hypotheses regarding the relationship between asthma and mental health, there is little understanding of underlying mechanisms and causality. In the current study we utilized publicly available datasets of human blood mRNA collected from patients with severe and moderate asthma, MDD, and PTSD. We performed differential expression (DE) analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) on diseased subjects against the healthy subjects from their respective datasets, compared the results between diseases, and validated DE genes and gene sets with 4 more independent datasets. Our analysis revealed that commonalities in blood transcriptomic changes were only found between the severe form of asthma and mood disorders. Gene expression commonly regulated in PTSD and severe asthma, included ORMDL3 a gene known to be associated with asthma risk and STX8, which is involved in TrkA signaling. We also identified several pathways commonly regulated to both MDD and severe asthma. This study reveals gene and pathway regulation that potentially drives the comorbidity between severe asthma, PTSD, and MDD and may serve as foci for future research aimed at gaining a better understanding of both the relationship between asthma and PTSD, and the pathophysiology of the individual disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nervous and immune systems communicate bidirectionally, utilizing diverse molecular signals including cytokines and neurotransmitters to provide an integrated response to changes in the body's internal and external environment. Although, neuro-immune interactions are becoming better understood under inflammatory circumstances and it has been evidenced that interaction between neurons and T cells results in the conversion of encephalitogenic T cells to T regulatory cells, relatively little is known about the communication between neurons and naïve T cells. Here, we demonstrate that following co-culture of naïve CD4+ T cells with superior cervical ganglion neurons, the percentage of Foxp3 expressing CD4+CD25+ cells significantly increased. This was mediated in part by immune-regulatory cytokines TGF-β and IL-10, as well as the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide while vasoactive intestinal peptide was shown to play no role in generation of T regulatory cells. Additionally, T cells co-cultured with neurons showed a decrease in the levels of proinflammatory cytokine IFN-γ released upon in vitro stimulation. These findings suggest that the generation of Tregs may be promoted by naïve CD4+ T cell: neuron interaction through the release of neuropeptide CGRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the consequences of feeding with a Lactobacillus species on the immune environment in GALT, and the role of dendritic cells and heme oxygenase-1 in mediating these responses. Feeding with a specific strain of Lactobacillus rhamnosus induced a significant increase in CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ functional regulatory T cells in GALT. This increase was greatest in the mesenteric lymph nodes and associated with a marked decrease in TNF and IFNϒ production. Dendritic cell regulatory function and HO-1 expression was also increased. The increase in Foxp3+ T cells could be prevented by treatment with a heme oxygenase inhibitor. However, neither inhibition of heme oxygenase nor blockade of IL-10 and TGFβ prevented the inhibition of inflammatory cytokine production. In conclusion Lactobacillus feeding induced a tolerogenic environment in GALT. HO-1 was critical to the enhancement of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells while additional, as yet unknown, pathways were involved in the down-regulation of inflammatory cytokine production by T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure of the intestine to certain strains lactobacillus can have systemic immune effects that include the attenuation of allergic responses. Despite the central role of mast cells in allergic disease little is known about the effect of lactobacilli on the function of these cells. To address this we assessed changes in rat mast cell activation following oral treatment with a strain of Lactobacillus known to attenuate allergic responses in animal models. Sprague Dawley rats were fed with L.rhamnosus JB-1 (1×109) or vehicle control for 9 days. Mediator release from peritoneal mast cells (RPMC) was determined in response to a range of stimuli. Passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) was used to assess mast cell responses in vivo. The Ca2+ activated K+ channel (KCa3.1) current, identified as critical to mast cell degranulation, was monitored by whole cell patch-clamp. L.rhamnosus JB-1 treatment lead to significant inhibition of mast cell mediator release in response to a range of stimuli including IgE mediated activation. Furthermore, the PCA response was significantly reduced in treated rats. Patchclamp studies revealed that RPMC from treated animals were much less responsive to the KCa3.1 opener, DCEBIO. These studies demonstrate that Ingestion of L.rhamnosus JB-1 leads to mast cell stabilization in rats and identify KCa3.1 as an immunomodulatory target for certain lactobacilli. Thus the systemic effects of certain candidate probiotics may include mast cell stabilization and such actions could contribute to the beneficial effect of these organisms in allergic and other inflammatory disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) are being studied by different groups exploring a broad range of potential beneficial effects to the breastfed infant. Many of these effects have been attributed to a growth promotion effect on certain gut organisms such as bifidobacteria. Additionally, evidence indicates that HMO are able to directly promote positive changes in gut epithelium and immune responses under certain conditions. This study utilizes a standardized ex vivo murine colon preparation to examine the effects of sialylated, fucosylated and other HMO on gut motor contractions. Only the fucosylated molecules, 2’FL and 3’FL, decreased contractility in a concentration dependent fashion. On the basis of IC50 determinations 3’FL was greater than 2 times more effective than 2’FL. The HMO 3’SL and 6’SL, lacto-N-neotetraose (LNnT), and galactooligosaccharides (GOS) elicited no effects. Lactose was used as a negative control. Fucosylation seems to underlie this functional regulation of gut contractility by oligosaccharides, and L-fucose, while it was also capable of reducing contractility, was substantially less effective than 3’FL and 2’FL. These results suggest that specific HMO are unlikely to be having these effects via bifidogenesis, but though direct action on neuronally dependent gut migrating motor complexes is likely and fucosylation is important in providing this function, we cannot conclusively shown that this is not indirectly mediated. Furthermore they support the possibility that fucosylated sugars and fucose might be useful as therapeutic or preventative adjuncts in disorders of gut motility, and possibly also have beneficial central nervous system effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]