机构：[1]Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China[2]Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, West Huangpu Road 601, Guangzhou 510632, China[3]Clinical Laboratory, Guangdong Provincid Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510120, China
Although intestinal flora are crucial in maintaining immune homeostasis of the intestine, the role of intestinal flora in immune responses at other mucosal surfaces remains less clear. Here, we show that intestinal flora composition critically regulates the toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) signaling pathway following respiratory influenza virus infection. TLR7 ligands rescued the immune impairment in antibiotic-treated mice. Intact microbiota provided signals leading to the expression of mRNA for TLR7, MyD88, IRAK4, TRAF6, and NF-kappa B at steady state. Significant changes in the composition of culturable commensal bacteria reduced the expression levels of components of the TLR7 signaling pathway. Our results reveal the importance of intestinal flora in regulating immunity in the respiratory mucosa through the upregulation of the TLR7 signaling pathway for the proper activation of inflammasomes.
基金：
This project was supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30973693), (No.
81273616) and the National Major Scientific and National Science
and Technology Major projects of the Twelfth Five-year Plan
(No. 2013ZX10003001).
