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Vitamin A Deficiency Promotes Inflammation by Induction of Type 2 Cytokines in Experimental Ovalbumin-Induced Asthma Murine Model

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Abstract

Vitamin A (VA) deficiency is one of the most common malnutrition conditions. Recent reports showed that VA plays an important role in the immune balance; lack of VA could result in enhanced type 2 immune response characterized by increased type 2 cytokine production and type 2 innate lymphoid cell infiltration and activation. Type 2 immune response plays protective role in anti-infection but plays pathological role in asthmatic disease. In order to investigate the role of VA in the asthmatic disease, we used ovalbumin-induced asthma murine model and observed the pathological changes between mouse-received VA-deficient and VA-sufficient diets. We also measured the type 2 cytokine expressions to reveal the potential mechanism. Our results showed that VA deficiency exacerbates ovalbumin-induced lung inflammation and type 2 cytokine productions. Thus, VA deficiency, or malnutrition in further extent, may contribute to the increasing prevalence of asthma.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81501423) and Norman Bethune Program of Jilin University (No. 2015223).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

      Weiwei Cui

    2. Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

      Peng Zhang & Xiuzhu Gao

    3. College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, People’s Republic of China

      Jingmin Gu

    4. Department of Immunology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, 126 Xinmin Avenue, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

      Yuan Tian, Yaqing Liu, Zheng Jin, Dongmei Yan, Xun Zhu & Dong Li

    5. Department of Hepatology, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

      Xiuzhu Gao

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    1. Weiwei Cui
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    4. Yuan Tian
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    Correspondence to Xun Zhu or Dong Li.

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    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

    Key Findings:

    1. Vitamin A deficiency exacerbates inflammations in an asthmatic setting.

    2. Vitamin A deficiency promotes the production of type 2 cytokines like IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13.

    Additional information

    Weiwei Cui and Peng Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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    Cui, W., Zhang, P., Gu, J. et al. Vitamin A Deficiency Promotes Inflammation by Induction of Type 2 Cytokines in Experimental Ovalbumin-Induced Asthma Murine Model. Inflammation 39, 1798–1804 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-016-0415-2

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-016-0415-2

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