Background: Recent studies demonstrate that long palate, lung, and nasal epithelium clone 1 protein (LPLUNC1) is involved in immune responses to Vibrio cholerae, and that variations in the LPLUNC1 promoter influence susceptibility to severe cholera in humans. However, no functional role for LPLUNC1 has been identified.
Methods: We investigated the role of LPLUNC1 in immune responses to V. cholerae, assessing its affect on bacterial growth and killing and on innate inflammatory responses to bacterial outer membrane components, including purified lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and outer membrane vesicles. We performed immunostaining for LPLUNC1 in duodenal biopsies from cholera patients and uninfected controls.
Results: LPLUNC1 decreased proinflammatory innate immune responses to V. cholerae and Escherichia coli LPS. The effect of LPLUNC1 was dose-dependent and occurred in a TLR4-dependent manner. LPLUNC1 did not affect lipoprotein-mediated TLR2 activation. Immunostaining demonstrated expression of LPLUNC1 in Paneth cells in cholera patients and controls.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that LPLUNC1 is expressed in Paneth cells and likely plays a role in modulating host inflammatory responses to V. cholerae infection. Attenuation of innate immune responses to LPS by LPLUNC1 may have implications for the maintenance of immune homeostasis in the intestine.