Adding to the cross-presentation family: Immune responses to viral or tumor antigens are typically initiated by the process of cross-presentation. Cross-presentation is believed to be the major way that innate immune cells, such as the classical dendritic cell 1 (cDC1) subset, activate and prime immunological T cells. Theisen et al. used CRISPR-based screening to identify regulators of cross-presentation by cDC1s (see the Perspective by Barbet and Blander). One such regulator that was identified, WDFY4 (WD repeat- and FYVE domain–containing protein 4), was required for cross-presentation of cell- and bacterial-associated antigens. WDFY4 played a critical role in cDC1-mediated viral and tumor immunity yet did not seem necessary for major histocompatibility complex class II presentation or for cross-presentation by monocyte-derived DCs. Science , this issue p. 694 ; see also p. 641

Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs), cDC1 and cDC2, act both to initiate immunity and maintain self-tolerance. The tryptophan metabolic enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is used by cDCs in maintaining tolerance, but its role in different subsets remains unclear. At homeostasis, only mature CCR7⁺ cDC1 expressed IDO1 that was dependent on IRF8. Lipopolysaccharide treatment induced maturation and IDO1-dependent tolerogenic activity in isolated immature cDC1, but not isolated cDC2. However, both human and mouse cDC2 could induce IDO1 and acquire tolerogenic function when co-cultured with mature cDC1 through the action of cDC1-derived l-kynurenine. Accordingly, cDC1-specific inactivation of IDO1 in vivo exacerbated disease in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. This study identifies a previously unrecognized metabolic communication in which IDO1-expressing cDC1 cells extend their immunoregulatory capacity to the cDC2 subset through their production of tryptophan metabolite l-kynurenine. This metabolic axis represents a potential therapeutic target in treating autoimmune demyelinating diseases.

Interleukin-4-induced-1 (IL4i1) is an amino acid oxidase secreted from immune cells. Recent observations have suggested that IL4i1 is pro-tumorigenic via unknown mechanisms. As IL4i1 has homologs in snake venoms (L-amino acid oxidases [LAAO]), we used comparative approaches to gain insight into the mechanistic basis of how conserved amino acid oxidases regulate cell fate and function. Using mammalian expressed recombinant proteins, we found that venom LAAO kills cells via hydrogen peroxide generation. By contrast, mammalian IL4i1 is non-cytotoxic and instead elicits a cell protective gene expression program inhibiting ferroptotic redox death by generating indole-3-pyruvate (I3P) from tryptophan. I3P suppresses ferroptosis by direct free radical scavenging and through the activation of an anti-oxidative gene expression program. Thus, the pro-tumor effects of IL4i1 are likely mediated by local anti-ferroptotic pathways via aromatic amino acid metabolism, arguing that an IL4i1 inhibitor may modulate tumor cell death pathways.

Significance: Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is an immunoregulatory enzyme that transforms tryptophan into kynurenine, an endogenous agonist of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) whose activation sustains IDO1 expression and activity over the long term in dendritic cells (DCs). Here we found that N -acetylserotonin (NAS), a tryptophan metabolite produced along the serotonin pathway, acts as a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) of IDO1 and thus increases kynurenine-mediated AhR activation in DCs. NAS effects on IDO1 translated into protection of mice from neuroinflammation and reinstallment of physiologic IDO1 activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.