Caractérisation ontogénique, phénotypique et fonctionnelle des macrophages interstitiels pulmonaires après exposition à des composés bactériens

Respiratory mucosal surfaces are continuously exposed to harmless antigens and immunostimulatory molecules of microbial origin. According to the « self/non self » and « danger » theories, this should normally result in the developpment of unwanted immune responses towards these inhaled antigens such as Th2-mediated allergic responses. This is however not the case in most people. The hygiene hypothesis postulates that living in an environment rich in microbial components paradoxically protects from airway allergy, implying the existence in the lung of suppressive mechanisms triggered by these immunogenic signals. In this study, we showed that synthetic bacterial DNA rich in unmethylated CpG motifs (CpG) has the unique ability to significantly increase the population of lung interstitial regulatory macrophages (IM) from CCR2-independent monocytes residing in the lung or mobilized from the spleen. Moreover these CpG-induced IM demonstrated a hypersuppressive profile as they produced more IL-10 than their steady state counterparts. Using mice models of airway allergy we showed that the transfert of IM isolated from CpG-treated mice recapitulated the protective effects of CpG when administered before allergen sensitization or challenge. This IM-mediated protection was dependant from IL-10 as CpG-induced Il10-/- IM had no protective effect. The expansion of pulmonary regulatory IM from CCR2-independent pulmonary and splenic monocytes upon CpG exposure could be a possible mechanism by which exposure to an environment rich in microbial products protects against asthma.