Alveolar macrophages (AM) are critical for defense against bacterial and fungal infections. However, a definitive role of AM in viral infections remains unclear. We here report that AM play a key role in survival to influenza and vaccinia virus infection by maintaining lung function and thereby protecting from asphyxiation. Absence of AM in GM-CSF-deficient (Csf2^−/−) mice or selective AM depletion in wild-type mice resulted in impaired gas exchange and fatal hypoxia associated with severe morbidity to influenza virus infection, while viral clearance was affected moderately. Virus-induced morbidity was far more severe in Csf2^−/− mice lacking AM, as compared to Batf3-deficient mice lacking CD8α⁺ and CD103⁺ DCs. Csf2^−/− mice showed intact anti-viral CD8⁺ T cell responses despite slightly impaired CD103⁺ DC development. Importantly, selective reconstitution of AM development in Csf2rb^−/− mice by neonatal transfer of wild-type AM progenitors prevented severe morbidity and mortality, demonstrating that absence of AM alone is responsible for disease severity in mice lacking GM-CSF or its receptor. In addition, CD11c-Cre/Pparg^fl/fl mice with a defect in AM but normal adaptive immunity showed increased morbidity and lung failure to influenza virus. Taken together, our results suggest a superior role of AM compared to CD103⁺ DCs in protection from acute influenza and vaccinia virus infection-induced morbidity and mortality. Acute respiratory viral infections can cause severe morbidity and pneumonia in infected individuals. Alveolar macrophages and various subsets of dendritic cells have been implicated in innate immunity and induction of anti-viral T cell responses that contribute to host defense against influenza virus infection. However, their relative importance in protection from pathology and disease severity has never been compared side by side. In this report, we demonstrate that mice lacking alveolar macrophages succumb to infection with low dose influenza virus and vaccinia virus infection due to respiratory failure. In contrast, mice lacking lymphoid CD8α⁺ and lung CD103⁺ DCs survived and showed little if any differences in disease severity compared to infected wild-type mice. These results indicate that therapies supporting AM and lung function may be beneficial during severe respiratory viral infection.

Programmed cell death plays an important role in the neuronal degeneration after cerebral ischemia, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we examined,in vivoandin vitro, whether ischemia-induced neuronal death involves death-inducing ligand/receptor systems such as CD95 and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). After reversible middle cerebral artery occlusion in adult rats, both CD95 ligand and TRAIL were expressed in the apoptotic areas of the postischemic brain. Further recombinant CD95 ligand and TRAIL proteins induced apoptosis in primary neurons and neuron-like cellsin vitro. The immunosuppressant FK506, which most effectively protects against ischemic neurodegeneration, prevented postischemic expression of these death-inducing ligands bothin vivoandin vitro. FK506 also abolished phosphorylation, but not expression, of the c-Jun transcription factor involved in the transcriptional control of CD95 ligand. Most importantly, inlprmice expressing dysfunctional CD95, reversible middle cerebral artery occlusion resulted in infarct volumes significantly smaller than those found in wild-type animals. These results suggest an involvement of CD95 ligand and TRAIL in the pathophysiology of postischemic neurodegeneration and offer alternative strategies for the treatment of cardiovascular brain disease.

The inhibitory programmed death 1 (PD-1)–programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway contributes to the functional down-regulation of T cell responses during persistent systemic and local virus infections. The blockade of PD-1–PD-L1–mediated inhibition is considered as a therapeutic approach to reinvigorate antiviral T cell responses. Yet previous studies reported that PD-L1–deficient mice develop fatal pathology during early systemic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection, suggesting a host protective role of T cell down-regulation. As the exact mechanisms of pathology development remained unclear, we set out to delineate in detail the underlying pathogenesis. Mice deficient in PD-1–PD-L1 signaling or lacking PD-1 signaling in CD8 T cells succumbed to fatal CD8 T cell–mediated immunopathology early after systemic LCMV infection. In the absence of regulation via PD-1, CD8 T cells killed infected vascular endothelial cells via perforin-mediated cytolysis, thereby severely compromising vascular integrity. This resulted in systemic vascular leakage and a consequential collapse of the circulatory system. Our results indicate that the PD-1–PD-L1 pathway protects the vascular system from severe CD8 T cell–mediated damage during early systemic LCMV infection, highlighting a pivotal physiological role of T cell down-regulation and suggesting the potential development of immunopathological side effects when interfering with the PD-1–PD-L1 pathway during systemic virus infections.

Preliminary studies have suggested a correlation between postsurgical pain and nest building behaviour in laboratory mice. However, there is no standardized measure for estimating pain by means of nest building performance. Here, we investigated nest building under various conditions, and scored nest complexity to assess postsurgical pain. Mice of both sexes, different strains [C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, and B6D2-Tg(Pr-mSMalphaActin)V5rCLR-25], and kept under different housing conditions, showed no differences in their latency to use the offered nest material. Healthy female C57BL/6J mice were engaged 4.3% of the day with nest building and showed three peaks of this behaviour: in the beginning and middle of the light phase, and in the second half of the dark phase. For assessment of postsurgical pain, female C57BL/6J mice underwent a sham embryo transfer +/− different doses of the analgesic carprofen or control treatment. Nest complexity scoring at 9 h after the experimental treatments (i.e. at the end of the light phase) resulted in less than 10% of animals with noticeably manipulated nest material (nestlet) after surgery and more than 75% of healthy mice having built identifiable-to-complex nests or had noticeably manipulated nestlets, while animals after anaesthesia-only showed intermediate nest complexity. Carprofen analgesia resulted in no (5 mg/kg) or only slight (50 mg/kg) improvement of nest complexity after surgery. Thus, nest complexity scoring can be incorporated into daily laboratory routine and can be used in mice as a sensitive tool for detecting reduced wellbeing and general condition, but probably not for determining the efficacy of pain treatment.