Abstract
Background: Hundreds of plant species release their pollen into the air every year during early spring. During that period, pollen allergic as well as non-allergic patients frequently present to doctors with severe respiratory tract infections. Our objective was therefore to assess whether pollen may interfere with antiviral immunity. Methods: We combined data from real-life human exposure cohorts, a mouse model and human cell culture to test our hypothesis. Results: Pollen significantly diminished interferon-λ and pro-inflammatory chemokine responses of airway epithelia to rhinovirus and viral mimics and decreased nuclear translocation of interferon regulatory factors. In mice infected with respiratory syncytial virus, co-exposure to pollen caused attenuated antiviral gene expression and increased pulmonary viral titers. In non-allergic human volunteers, nasal symptoms were positively correlated with airborne birch pollen abundance, and nasal birch pollen challenge led to downregulation of type I and -III interferons in nasal mucosa. In a large patient cohort, numbers of rhinoviruspositive cases were correlated with airborne birch pollen concentrations. Conclusion: The ability of pollen to suppress innate antiviral immunity, independent of allergy, suggests that high-risk population groups should avoid extensive outdoor activities when pollen and respiratory virus seasons coincide.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 576-587 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Mar 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Funding
This research was partly implemented in the framework of the EUCOST Action DiMoPEx (Diagnosis, Monitoring and Prevention of Exposure-Related Noncommunicable Diseases), under Grant Number CA15129 (EU Framework Program Horizon 2020). The chair of environmental medicine and SIAF received funding by the Christine-Kühne-Center for Allergy Research and Education (CK-Care). MW received a travel scholarship from the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (BFS) for her work on the RSV mouse model at Utrecht University. Work including HRV (CB and DED) was funded by the Medical Research Council (UK; G0900453) Helmholtz Association, Germany: Impuls- und Vernetzungsfonds (IVF). The authors wish to thank Julia Kolek and Kristina Beresowski for technical assistance and the team of Prof. Frank Coenjaerts (University Medical Center Utrecht) for RSV detection. This research was partly implemented in the framework of the EUCOST Action DiMoPEx (Diagnosis, Monitoring and Prevention of Exposure‐Related Noncommunicable Diseases), under Grant Number CA15129 (EU Framework Program Horizon 2020). The chair of environmental medicine and SIAF received funding by the Christine‐Kühne‐Center for Allergy Research and Education (CK‐Care). MW received a travel scholarship from the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (BFS) for her work on the RSV mouse model at Utrecht University. Work including HRV (CB and DED) was funded by the Medical Research Council (UK; G0900453) Helmholtz Association, Germany: Impuls‐ und Vernetzungsfonds (IVF). 1 1 Dr Akdis reports grants from Allergopharma, grants from Idorsia, grants from Swiss National Science Foundation, grants from Christine Kühne‐Center for Allergy Research and Education, grants from European Commission's Horison's 2020 Framework Programme, Cure, other from Sanofi‐Aventis_Regeneron, grants from Novartis Research Institutes, grants from Astra Zeneca, grants from Scibase, outside the submitted work. Dr Chaker reports research grants and other from Allergopharma, ALK Abello, ASIT Biotech, Bencard/Allergen Therapeutics, GSK, HAL Allergy, LETI, LOFARMA, Novartis, Phadia/ Thermo Fisher, Zeller, Circassia; further EIT (European Institute of Technology) and DZL: Deutsches Zentrum Lungenforschung (BMBF, governmental), outside the submitted work. Dr Davies reports personal fees from Synairgen, outside the submitted work; In addition, Dr Davies has a patent with royalties paid. Dr Garssen reports and Two (2) affiliations: (1) Danone/Nutricia Research. Function: Director Research & Innovation Immunology and (2) Utrecht University/Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences. Function: Head Division Pharmacology. The remaining authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| EUCOST | CA15129 |
| Novartis Research Institutes | |
| AstraZeneca | |
| Medical Research Council | G0900453 |
| European Commission | |
| Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung | |
| Universiteit Utrecht | |
| Bayerische Forschungsstiftung | |
| Helmholtz Association | |
| Christine Kühne – Center for Allergy Research and Education |
Keywords
- antiviral response
- lambda-interferones
- nasal symptoms
- nonallergenic pollen compounds
- respiratory syncytial virus
- rhinovirus