The Interaction between IL-18 and IL-18R Limits the Magnitude of Protective Immunity and Enhances Pathogenic Responses Following Infection with Intracellular Bacteria

The binding of IL-18 to IL-18Rα induces both pro-inflammatory and protective functions during infection, depending on the context in which it occurs. IL-18 is highly expressed in the liver of wild type (WT) C57BL/6 mice following lethal infection with highly virulent Ixodes Ovatus Ehrlichia (IOE), an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes acute fatal toxic shock-like syndrome. In this study, we found that IOE infection of IL-18Rα -/- mice resulted in significantly less host cell apoptosis, decreased hepatic leukocyte recruitment, enhanced bacterial clearance and prolonged survival compared to infected WT mice, suggesting a pathogenic role of IL-18/IL-18Rα in Ehrlichia -induced toxic shock. Although lack of IL-18R decreases the magnitude of IFN-γ producing type-1 immune response, enhanced resistance of the IL-18Rα -/- mice against Ehrlichia correlated with increased pro-inflammatory cytokines at sites of infection, decreased systemic IL-10 production, increased frequency of protective natural killer T (NKT) cells producing TNF-α and IFN-γ and decreased frequency of pathogenic TNF-α-producing CD8 + T cells. Adoptive transfer of immune wild type CD8 + T cells increased bacterial burden in IL-18Rα -/- mice following IOE infection. Furthermore, rIL-18 treatment of WT mice infected with mildly virulent Ehrlichia muris (EM) impaired bacterial clearance and enhanced liver injury. Finally, lack of IL-18R signal reduced dendritic cells (DCs) maturation and their TNF-α production, suggesting that IL-18 possibly promote the adaptive pathogenic immune responses against Ehrlichia via influencing T cell priming functions of DCs Together, these results suggest that the presence or absence of IL-18R signals governs the pathogenic versus protective immunity in a model of Ehrlichia -induced immunopathology.