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IL-34 is a Treg-specific cytokine and mediates transplant tolerance
Séverine Bézie, … , Ignacio Anegon, Carole Guillonneau
Séverine Bézie, … , Ignacio Anegon, Carole Guillonneau
Published September 21, 2015
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2015;125(10):3952-3964. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI81227.
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Research Article

IL-34 is a Treg-specific cytokine and mediates transplant tolerance

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Abstract

Cytokines and metabolic pathway–controlling enzymes regulate immune responses and have potential as powerful tools to mediate immune tolerance. Blockade of the interaction between CD40 and CD40L induces long-term cardiac allograft survival in rats through a CD8+CD45RClo Treg potentiation. Here, we have shown that the cytokine IL-34, the immunoregulatory properties of which have not been previously studied in transplantation or T cell biology, is expressed by rodent CD8+CD45RClo Tregs and human FOXP3+CD45RCloCD8+ and CD4+ Tregs. IL-34 was involved in the suppressive function of both CD8+ and CD4+ Tregs and markedly inhibited alloreactive immune responses. Additionally, in a rat cardiac allograft model, IL-34 potently induced transplant tolerance that was associated with a total inhibition of alloantibody production. Treatment of rats with IL-34 promoted allograft tolerance that was mediated by induction of CD8+ and CD4+ Tregs. Moreover, these Tregs were capable of serial tolerance induction through modulation of macrophages that migrate early to the graft. Finally, we demonstrated that human macrophages cultured in the presence of IL-34 greatly expanded CD8+ and CD4+ FOXP3+ Tregs, with a superior suppressive potential of antidonor immune responses compared with non–IL-34–expanded Tregs. In conclusion, we reveal that IL-34 serves as a suppressive Treg–specific cytokine and as a tolerogenic cytokine that efficiently inhibits alloreactive immune responses and mediates transplant tolerance.

Authors

Séverine Bézie, Elodie Picarda, Jason Ossart, Laurent Tesson, Claire Usal, Karine Renaudin, Ignacio Anegon, Carole Guillonneau

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Figure 2

IL-34 is a human FOXP3+ Treg–specific cytokine involved in the suppressive activity of antidonor immune responses.

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IL-34 is a human FOXP3+ Treg–specific cytokine involved in the suppressi...
The percentage of IL-34+ cells in healthy individuals was evaluated in CD4+ or CD8+ CD45RClo or CD45RChi T cells (A) or in FOXP3+ versus FOXP3– CD45RClo CD8+ or CD4+ T cells (B and C). (A) The mean ± SEM of 27 healthy individuals is represented. Mann-Whitney U test, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001. Representative histogram and plot of healthy individuals (B) showing the mean of expression ± SEM of 10 healthy individuals (C). (D) Soluble IL-34 was tested for suppression of CD4+CD25– T cell proliferation in response to allogeneic T cell–depleted PBMCs and analyzed by flow cytometry for CFSE dilution after 5 days of culture (n = 2–5 experiments performed in duplicate). Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM of the relative proportion of dividing CD4+CD25– T cells. Representative histogram of 1 experiment: Proliferation of CFSE-labeled CD4+CD25– T cells cocultured with T cell–depleted PBMCs with increased concentrations of IL-34. Two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post test versus M-CSF, ***P < 0.001. (E) The relative proportion of CFSE-labeled dividing CD4+CD25– T cells stimulated with allogeneic T cell–depleted PBMCs was analyzed after 5 days of culture, in the presence of CD8+CD45RClo or CD4+CD25hiCD127– Tregs at 1:1 effector/suppressor ratios. The proliferation after addition of anti–IL-34–blocking Ab was evaluated and compared with isotypic control (n = 5–6 experiments performed in triplicate). The proportion of dividing CD4+CD25– T cells in the control proliferation condition with allogeneic T cell–depleted PBMCs only represented approximately 60% of the cells on day 5 and was given a value of 100 in each experiment. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM of the relative proportion of dividing CD4+CD25– T cells. A representative raw CFSE profile is shown in the right panel. Wilcoxon test (versus proliferation without Tregs = 100), **P < 0.01.

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