Epigenetic Regulation of IL-17-Induced Chemokines in Lung Epithelial Cells

Epithelial cells are known to have barrier functions in multiple organs and regulate innate immune responses. Airway epithelial cells respond to IL-17 by altering their transcriptional profiles and producing antimicrobial proteins and neutrophil chemoattractants. Although IL-17 has been shown to promote inflammation through stabilizing mRNA of CXCR2 ligands, how IL-17 exerts its downstream effects on its target cells through epigenetic mechanisms is largely unknown. Using primary human bronchial epithelial cells and immortalized epithelial cell line from both human and mouse, we demonstrated that IL-17-induced CXCR2 ligand production is dependent on histone acetylation specifically through repressing HDAC5. Furthermore, the chemokine production induced by IL-17 is strictly dependent on the bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) family as BET inhibition abolished the IL-17A-induced proinflammatory chemokine production, indicating a pivotal role of the recognition of acetylated histones. In combination with single-cell RNA-seq analysis, we revealed that the cell lines we employed represent specific lineages and their IL-17 responses were regulated differently by the DNA methylation mechanisms. Taken together, our data strongly support that IL-17 sustains epithelial CXCR2 ligand production through epigenetic regulation and the therapeutic potential of interrupting histone modification as well as the recognition of modified histones could be evaluated in neutrophilic lung diseases.