Bacterial sensor Nod2 prevents inflammation of the small intestine by restricting the expansion of the commensal Bacteroides vulgatus - PubMed (original) (raw)

Bacterial sensor Nod2 prevents inflammation of the small intestine by restricting the expansion of the commensal Bacteroides vulgatus

Deepshika Ramanan et al. Immunity. 2014.

Abstract

Nod2 has been extensively characterized as a bacterial sensor that induces an antimicrobial and inflammatory gene expression program. Therefore, it is unclear why Nod2 mutations that disrupt bacterial recognition are paradoxically among the highest risk factors for Crohn's disease, which involves an exaggerated immune response directed at intestinal bacteria. Here, we identified several abnormalities in the small-intestinal epithelium of Nod2(-/-) mice including inflammatory gene expression and goblet cell dysfunction, which were associated with excess interferon-γ production by intraepithelial lymphocytes and Myd88 activity. Remarkably, these abnormalities were dependent on the expansion of a common member of the intestinal microbiota Bacteroides vulgatus, which also mediated exacerbated inflammation in Nod2(-/-) mice upon small-intestinal injury. These results indicate that Nod2 prevents inflammatory pathologies by controlling the microbiota and support a multihit disease model involving specific gene-microbe interactions.

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1. Nod2−/− mice display inflammatory gene expression in the small intestinal epithelium

(A) Microarray analysis of transcripts displaying >1.25 fold enrichment in crypt-base epithelial cells from Nod2−/− compared to WT mice. Gene ontology (GO) terms with the highest significance are shown. (B) Functional clusters displaying greatest enrichment from (a). n = 3 mice per genotype. (C) Immunofluorescence (IF) staining of Reg3β in WT and Nod2−/− small intestinal sections with and without treatment with antibiotics (metronidazole, ampicillin, vancomycin, neomycin). Scale bar = 100µm. (D) Quantification of the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of Reg3β in small intestinal sections as in (C). n ≥ 5 mice per genotype. (E) Quantification of MFI of Relm-β in WT and Nod2−/− small intestinal sections with and without antibiotics treatment. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype. ****p<0.0001 by ANOVA with Holm-Sidak multiple comparisons test for (D) and (E). Data are represented as mean ± SEM from at least two independent experiments in (D) and (E). See also figure S1.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Nod2−/− mice display goblet cell abnormalities in the small intestine

(A) qPCR analysis of Muc2 expression normalized to Gapdh in small intestinal tissue harvested from WT and Nod2−/− mice. (B) IF staining of Muc2 in small intestinal sections. Muc2 positive cells and extracellular staining are denoted by white arrow heads and asterisks respectively. (C) Number of Muc2+ cells per villi from (B). (D) PAS-Alcian blue staining of small intestinal sections from WT and Nod2−/− mice. Red arrows denote goblet cells. (E–G) Quantification of the number of goblet cells per villi (E), the proportion displaying translucent staining or atypical morphology (F), and number of goblet cells displaying normal morphology per villi (G) from the PAS-Alcian blue-stained sections in (B). (H) Transmission electron microscopy analysis of goblet cell morphology in WT and Nod2−/− small intestine. Red arrowheads denote individual granules. (I) Quantification of the number of mucin granules per goblet cell in (H), performed by manually counting individual granules per cell in at least 25 cells per mouse. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 and ****p<0.0001 by unpaired two-tailed t test in (A), (C), (E), (F), (G), and (I). Scale bar = 100µm in (B) and (D), and 2µm in (H). All bar graphs display mean ± SEM from at least two independent experiments. Bars and numbers represent the mean in (E). See also figure S2.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Nod2−/− mice have an increased proportion of IFN-y expressing intraepithelial lymphocytes

(A) Total number of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) harvested from WT and Nod2−/− mice. n ≥ 16 mice per genotype. (B) Representative flow cytometry plot of CD8+ IELs from (A) stained for intracellular IFN-γ and IL-17 expression following stimulation with PMA and ionomycin gated on CD3+ live cells. (C–D) Quantification of the proportion of CD8+ (C) and TCRδ+ (D) IELs expressing IFN-γ from (B). n ≥ 6 mice per genotype. (E–F) Quantification of the number of goblet cells per villi (E) and the proportion displaying abnormal morphology (F) from PAS-Alcian blue-stained small intestinal sections in Rag−/− and Nod2−/−Rag−/− mice. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype. (G–H) Quantification of the number of goblet cells per villi (G) and the proportion displaying abnormal morphology (H) from PAS-Alcian blue-stained small intestinal sections in WT and Nod2−/− mice treated with antibody to IFN-γ or isotype control. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, and ****p<0.0001 by unpaired two-tailed t test in (A) (C) and (D), and ANOVA with Holm-Sidak multiple comparisons test for (G) and (H). All bar graphs display mean ± SEM from at least two independent experiments. Bars and numbers represent the mean in (E) and (G). See also figure S3.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Intestinal abnormalities in Nod2−/− mice are observed in Rip2−/− mice and dependent on Myd88

(A–D) Quantification of Reg3β IF staining (A), number of goblet cells per villi (B) and proportion displaying abnormal morphology by light microscopy (C), and the proportion of IFN-γ+ IELs by flow cytometry (D) in the small intestine of WT and Rip2−/− mice. (E) Representative IF staining of Reg3β in Nod2−/− and Nod2−/−MyD88−/− small intestinal sections. Scale bar = 100 µm. (F) Quantification of Reg3β IF in WT, Nod2−/−, MyD88−/− and _Nod2−/−MyD88−/−_small intestine. (G) Quantification of the number of goblet cells per villi in WT, _Nod2−/−, MyD88−/−_and Nod2−/−MyD88−/− small intestine. (H) Flow cytometry analysis of the proportion of IFN-γ+ IELs in WT, Nod2−/−, MyD88−/− and Nod2−/−MyD88−/− mice. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype, **p<0.01 and ****p<0.0001 by unpaired two-tailed t test in (A), (B), (C), and (D), and ANOVA with a Holm-Sidak multiple comparisons test for (F), (G) and (H). All bar graphs display mean ± SEM from at least two independent experiments. Bars and numbers represent the mean in (B) and (G). See also figure S4

Figure 5

Figure 5. Nod2 prevents the expansion of Bacteroides vulgatus

(A) PCoA plot generated from unweighted UniFrac distance matrix displaying the distinct clustering pattern of intestinal microbial communities in WT and Nod2−/− mice. (B) Relative abundances of taxonomic groups averaged across WT and _Nod2_−/− mice. (C) Quantification of Bacteroides genus-specific 16S rRNA gene detected by qPCR normalized to total bacterial 16S in stool of WT and Nod2−/− mice. (D) Quantification of colony forming units (cfu) of anaerobic bacteria identified as Bacteroides vulgatus from stool of WT and Nod2−/− mice plated on BBE agar. n = 10 mice per genotype. (E) Quantification of B. vulgatus in stool of WT and Rip2−/− mice. n = 5 mice per genotype. (F) Quantification of B. vulgatus in stool of WT and Nod2−/− mice that were co-housed and separated by genotype on day 0. n = 5 mice per genotype. (G) Quantification of B. vulgatus in stool of WT, Nod2−/−, MyD88−/− and Nod2−/−MyD88−/− mice. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype. (H) Quantification of B. vulgatus in stool harvested from bone marrow chimeras generated from WT and Nod2−/− mice that were co-housed and then separated by genotype. Black asterisks refer to WT->WT compared to KO->WT and red asterisks refer to WT->WT compared to KO->KO. N.D. = not detected, dotted line refers to limit of detection. n ≥ 5 mice per genotype. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 and ****p<0.0001 by unpaired two-tailed t test in (C), Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test in (D), (E) and (G), and Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn’s multiple comparisons test for (F) and (H). Data are represented as mean ± SEM in (C) and (G). Bars represent the mean in (D) and (E). See also figure S5.

Figure 6

Figure 6. B. vulgatus mediates small intestinal abnormalities in Nod2−/− mice

(A) Relative abundances of intestinal microbial communities in WT and Nod2−/− mice before and after metronidazole treatment. (B) Quantification of B. vulgatus in stool of WT and Nod2−/− mice after 0, 5, and 10 days of metronidazole treatment. (C–G) Quantification of IF staining of Reg3β (C) and Relm-β (D), number of goblet cells per villi (E) and the proportion displaying abnormal morphology (F) by light microscopy, and IFN-γ+ IELs by flow cytometry in WT and Nod2−/− mice treated with metronidazole. (H–K) Quantification of IF staining of Reg3β (H) and Relm-β (I), and number of goblet cells per villi (J) and the proportion displaying abnormal morphology (K) by light microscopy in WT and Nod2−/− mice treated with vancomycin. (L–N) Quantification of IF staining of Reg3β (L), proportion of goblet cells displaying abnormal morphology by light microscopy (M), and IFN-γ+ IELs by flow cytometry in WT and Nod2−/− mice treated with metronidazole and gavaged with 108 cfu B. vulgatus or equivalent amount of heat-killed bacteria. Dotted line denotes limit of detection. n ≥ 3 mice per genotype in (A)-(K), n = 9–10 mice per genotype in (L)-(N). *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 and ****p<0.0001 by Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn’s multiple comparisons test for (B), unpaired two tailed t-test in (C)-(K) and ANOVA with a Holm-Sidak multiple comparisons test for (L), (M) and (N). Data are represented as mean ± SEM from at least two independent experiments in (B)-(D) and (F)-(N). Bars and numbers represent the mean in (E) and (J). See also figure S6.

Figure 7

Figure 7. Nod2−/− mice are susceptible to piroxicam induced small intestinal inflammation in the presence of B. vulgatus

(A) Representative H&E-stained small intestinal sections from piroxicam-treated WT and Nod2−/− mice. Black arrow and asterisk point to a focal ulcer and epithelial hyperplasia respectively. Scale bar = 200µm. (B) Quantification of small intestinal pathology in WT and Nod2−/− (KO) mice treated with piroxicam. (C) Graph represents a PCoA plot generated from unweighted UniFrac distance matrices of WT and Nod2−/− mice before and after piroxicam treatment, overlaid with the distribution of different bacterial taxa based on phylogenetic information. (D) Quantification of the number of observed taxonomic units (OTUs) in WT and Nod2−/− mice before and after piroxicam treatment. (E) Relative abundances of intestinal microbial communities in WT and Nod2−/− mice before and after piroxicam treatment. n = 4–5 mice per group. *p<0.05, **p<0.01 and ns = not significant by ANOVA with Holm-Sidak multiple comparisons test for (B). Data are represented as mean ± SEM in (B) and (D).

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