Title

HLA-II Alleles Influence Physical and Behavioral Responses to a Whey Allergen in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Cow's Milk Allergy

Authors

Danielle L. Germundson, University of North Dakota
Suba Nookala, University of North Dakota
Nicholas A. Smith, University of North Dakota
Yassmine Warda, University of North Dakota
Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, University of North DakotaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2023

Publication Title

Frontiers in Allergy

Abstract

The symptoms of food allergies vary significantly between individuals, likely due to genetic determinants. In humans, allergy development is initiated by antigen-presenting cells via class II human leukocyte antigen (HLA-II). The HLA-II gene is highly polymorphic, and its allelic variance is thought to influence the susceptibility of individuals to a particular allergen. However, whether antigen presentation by different HLA-II variants contributes to symptom variation is not clear. We hypothesized that HLA-II allelic variance affects symptom phenotypes, including immediate physical reactions and delayed behavioral changes, in individuals with food hypersensitivity. To test our hypothesis, male and female mice of three transgenic strains expressing an HLA-II variant, DR3, DR15, or DQ8, were used to establish a cow's milk allergy model. Mice were sensitized to a bovine whey allergen, β-lactoglobulin (BLG; Bos d 5), weekly for 5 weeks, followed by an acute oral allergen challenge. At 30 min post-challenge, BLG-sensitized DR3 mice showed moderate to severe anaphylaxis resulting in perioral redness, swelling, and death. In contrast, DQ8 and DR15 mice were generally asymptomatic. The production of allergen-specific immunoglobulins was also HLA- and sex-dependent. Both male and female DR3 and female DR15 mice significantly increased BLG-specific IgE production, while robust elevation in BLG-specific IgG1 was observed in sensitized DQ8 mice of both sexes and, to a lesser extent, in DR15 males. Furthermore, BLG-sensitized DR15 mice showed sex-specific behavior changes, with males exhibiting mobility changes and anxiety-like behavior and females showing spatial memory impairment. When splenocytes from transgenic mice were stimulated in vitro with BLG, phenotypes of immune cells were HLA- and sex-specific, further underscoring the influence of HLA-II on immune responses. Our results support that HLA-II alleles influence behavioral responses in addition to immune and physical reactions of food allergy, suggesting that certain HLA-II variants may predispose individuals to food-allergy-associated behavioral changes.

Issue

3

DOI

doi: 10.3389/falgy.2022.870513

Rights

First published by Frontiers media here.

Copyright © 2022 Germundson, Nookala, Smith, Warda and Nagamoto-Combs. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Danielle L. Germundson, Suba Nookala, Nicholas A. Smith, et al.. "HLA-II Alleles Influence Physical and Behavioral Responses to a Whey Allergen in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Cow's Milk Allergy" (2023). Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications. 24.
https://commons.und.edu/bms-fac/24