Dendritic cells modulated by cytokine-expressing adenoviruses alleviate eosinophilia and airway hyperresponsiveness in an animal model of asthma

It has been found that TH1-related cytokines can decrease the accumulation of eosinophils in lung tissue and relieve airway constriction. Dendritic cells (DCs) have been found to prime naive T-helper cells efficiently. In this study, DCs infected with TH1 cytokine–expressing adenovirus can be used to induce antigen-specific TH1 cells for treatment in an animal model of asthma. Cytokine gene–modulated DCs pulsed with ovalbumin antigen (OVA) were injected intravenously into naive mice 1 week before sensitization with OVA antigen. The mice were then monitored for OVA-specific IgE, airway inflammatory cell infiltration, and airway hyperresponsiveness in the study. Significant levels of IL-12 or IL-18 were expressed by Ad-IL-12 or Ad-IL-18 infected, bone marrow–derived DCs. Ad-IL-12 and Ad-IL-18 co-infected DCs effectively, decreasing sera anti-OVA IgE antibody levels, lung eosinophilia, and airway hyperresponsiveness. We concluded that DCs modulated by TH1-prone cytokine-expressing adenoviruses can alleviate TH2-type airway inflammation in a murine model and can provide possible therapeutic application for DCs in asthma.