Immune sensing of food allergens promotes avoidance behaviour
Esther Borges Florsheim, Nathaniel D. Bachtel, Jaime L. Cullen, Bruna Costa Lima, Mahdieh Godazgar, Fernando de Carvalho, Carolina P. Chatain, Marcelo R. Zimmer, Cuiling Zhang, Grégory Gautier, Pierre Launay, Andrew Wang, Marcelo O. Dietrich, Ruslan Medzhitov
Abstract
. The scope and mechanisms of behavioural modifications by the immune system are not yet well understood. Here, using mouse models of food allergy, we show that allergic sensitization drives antigen-specific avoidance behaviour. Allergen ingestion activates brain areas involved in the response to aversive stimuli, including the nucleus of tractus solitarius, parabrachial nucleus and central amygdala. Allergen avoidance requires immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and mast cells but precedes the development of gut allergic inflammation. The ability of allergen-specific IgE and mast cells to promote avoidance requires cysteinyl leukotrienes and growth and differentiation factor 15. Finally, a comparison of C57BL/6 and BALB/c mouse strains revealed a strong effect of the genetic background on the avoidance behaviour. These findings thus point to antigen-specific behavioural modifications that probably evolved to promote niche selection to avoid unfavourable environments.