P2Y2R deficiency attenuates experimental autoimmune uveitis development.

• Main Authors: Lia Judice M Relvas, Maya Makhoul, Remi Dewispelaere, Laure Caspers, Didier Communi, Jean-Marie Boeynaems, Bernard Robaye, Catherine Bruyns, François Willermain
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4334221?pdf=render

We aimed to study the role of the nucleotide receptor P2Y2R in the development of experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). EAU was induced in P2Y2+/+ and P2Y2-/- mice by immunization with IRBP peptide or by adoptive transfer of in vitro restimulated semi-purified IRBP-specific enriched T lymphocytes from spleens and lymph nodes isolated from native C57Bl/6 or P2Y2+/+ and P2Y2-/- immunized mice. Clinical and histological scores were used to grade disease severity. Splenocytes and lymph node cell phenotypes were analyzed using flow cytometry. Semi-purified lymphocytes and MACS-purified CD4+ T lymphocytes from P2Y2+/+ and P2Y2-/- immunized mice were tested for proliferation and cytokine secretion. Our data show that clinical and histological scores were significantly decreased in IRBP-immunized P2Y2-/- mice as in P2Y2-/- mice adoptively transfered with enriched T lymphocytes from C57Bl/6 IRBP-immunized mice. In parallel, naïve C57Bl/6 mice adoptively transferred with T lymphocytes from P2Y2-/- IRBP-immunized mice also showed significantly less disease. No differences in term of spleen and lymph node cell recruitment or phenotype appeared between P2Y2-/- and P2Y2+/+ immunized mice. However, once restimulated in vitro with IRBP, P2Y2-/- T cells proliferate less and secrete less cytokines than the P2Y2+/+ one. We further found that antigen-presenting cells of P2Y2-/- immunized mice were responsible for this proliferation defect. Together our data show that P2Y2-/- mice are less susceptible to mount an autoimmune response against IRBP. Those results are in accordance with the danger model, which makes a link between autoreactive lymphocyte activation, cell migration and the release of danger signals such as extracellular nucleotides.