Regulation of allergic airway inflammation in asthmatic mice by Wnt/β-catenin pathway of dendritic cells / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the role of Wnt/β-catenin pathway in regulating allergic airway inflammation in asthmatic mice.Methods We induced dendritic cells (DCs) from bone marrow of BALB/c mice,and then treated the cells with LiCl and PKF118-310,separately.We observed the morphological features of DCs under light microscope.Mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was used to observe the functional changes of DCs.Western blot was used to detect the expressions of GSK-3β and β-catenin at the protein level.We established a mouse asthma model by using ovalbumin (OVA),and then treated these mice with LiCl and PKF118-310.The total number of cells and eosinophil percentage in BALF were determined.The lungs of mice were observed by HE staining to evaluate the degree of allergic inflammation.The cytokines in BALF and spleen cells supernatant were assayed by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA),and the total IgE in the serum was also measured by ELISA.The protein expression levels of GSK-3β and β-catenin in lung tissue were assayed by Western blot.Results ① The DCs treated with LiCl promoted the proliferation of allogeneic T lymphocytes in MLR more weakly than those treated with PKF118-310 (P＜0.01).② The GSK-3β protein expression level of DCs treated with LiCl was significantly lower than DCs treated with PKF118-310.In contrast,the β-catenin protein expression of DCs treated with LiCl was higher than that of DCs treated with PKF118-310 (P ＜ 0.01).③ The total number of cells and eosinophil percentage in BALF were significantly increased in the experimental group compared with those in the control group (P＜0.01).There was also a significant difference between LiCl group and PKF118-310 group (P＜0.01).④ In the three experimental groups,the severity of inflammation in the lungs of LiCl group was weaker than that in PKF118-310 group (P＜0.05).⑤ Compared with that in the normal control group,IL-4 in BALF and spleen cell culture supernatant of the experimental group was significantly higher while IFN-γ was the opposite (P＜0.01).LiCl group had the lowest level of IL-4 and the highest level of IFN-γ;PKF groups was the opposite (P＜0.05).⑥ The total IgE in serum was significantly increased in the experimental group compared with the control group (P＜0.01).There was also a significant difference between LiCl group and PKF118-310 group (P＜0.05).⑦ GSK-3β protein expression was significantly lower in LiCl group than in PKF118-310 group (P＜0.05),while β-catenin protein expression was significantly higher in LiCl group than in PKF118-310 group (P＜0.05).Conclusion LiCl and PKF118-310 can affect the severity of asthma by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway and the expressions of GSK-3β andβ-catenin protein,which provides a new direction for asthma treatment.