Skip to main content
News Netea 10.2021
left: Prof. Dr. Mihai G. Netea; right: Prof. Dr. Andreas Schlitzer
© Mihai Netea / Uni Bonn

Publication

Epigenetics: Immunization is passed on to offspring

Adaptations to infection shown to be passed on over several generations in mice

Does an infection affect the immunity of subsequent generations? Prof. Andeas Schlitzer, member of ImmunoSensation2 and the Life & Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES) at the University of Bonn, Prof. Dr. Mihai G. Netea from Radboud University (Netherlands), together with researchers from Saarland University, Lausanne (Switzerland) and Athens (Greece), have investigated this. Mouse sires that either had previously overcome infection with fungi or were stimulated with fungal substances, passed on their improved protection over several generations. The team simultaneously demonstrated an improved immune response that was passed on to the offspring. The study has now been published in Nature Immunology.

The scientists infected male mice with thrush fungi (Candida albicans). After surviving the infection, the animals were mated with completely healthy females. The researchers compared the resulting children with offspring from pairs of mice that had not previously been infected with Candida. To experimentally examine the status of the immune system, the team infected the males of the subsequent generation of mice with coliform bacteria. The offspring of the male mice previously exposed to Candida were found to be significantly better protected from subsequent E. coli infection than the offspring of the uninfected male mice. This effect was still evident in the next generation.


Publication

Natalie Katzmarski, Jorge Domínguez-Andrés, Branko Cirovic, Georgios Renieris, Eleonora Ciarlo, Didier Le Roy, Konstantin Lepikhov, Kathrin Kattler, Gilles Gasparoni, Kristian Händler, Heidi Theis, Marc Beyer, Jos W. M. van der Meer, Leo A. B. Joosten, Jörn Walter, Joachim L. Schultze, Thierry Roger, Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Andreas Schlitzer, Mihai G. Netea: Transmission of trained immunity and heterologous resistance to infections across generations, Nature Immunology, DOI: 10.1038/s41590-021-01052-7.


Contact

Prof. Dr. Andreas Schlitzer

Quantitative Systembiologie

LIMES-Institut (Life and Medical Sciences Bonn)

Universität Bonn

Tel. +49 2287362847

E-Mail: andreas.schlitzer(at)uni-bonn.de


Prof. Dr. Mihai G. Netea

Radboud university medical center und
LIMES-Institut der Universität Bonn

Tel. +31 243618819

E-Mail: Mihai.Netea(at)radboudumc.nl

Related news

Bunte Spirale

Publication

When the map needs an update

—Every time we move through a familiar environment, the hippocampus consults an internal map, a detailed spatial representation that is built up through repeated experience. But what happens when something unexpected occurs on a well-known route? Researchers at the UKB and the University of Bonn were able to demonstrate in a mouse model that the brain does not redraw its maps from scratch. Instead, it annotates them: preserving the underlying spatial layout while overlaying new information on top of the existing map. Their findings have now been published in the journal PNAS.
View entry
Dr. Clivia Lisowski und Prof. Christian Kurts

Publication

Immune cells in the liver help pigeons navigate

—How do pigeons find their way home safely over distances of many kilometers? A research team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology has now discovered a previously unknown mechanism: specific immune cells in the liver may help the birds detect the Earth’s magnetic field. The findings have now been published in the journal Science.
View entry
News Icon

Publication

Twin Lancet Publications Highlight Promising New Approach for Lupus Treatment

—A team of international researchers, including ImmunoSensation³ member Prof. Jörg Wenzel, reports promising phase 2 results for enpatoran, a first-in-class oral TLR7/8 inhibitor, in patients with cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus (CLE/SLE). In the WILLOW trial, enpatoran significantly improved skin disease activity in a dose-dependent manner and showed favourable safety outcomes. In systemic SLE, treatment also reduced global disease activity and rapidly suppressed the type I interferon gene signature. The twin studies were published in The Lancet and The Lancet Rheumatology.
View entry

Back to the news overview