Beneficial and detrimental consequences of AHR activation in intestinal infection

The ligand-dependent transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an environmental sensor whose activation can have physiologically beneficial or detrimental consequences for host immune responses depending on the ligand. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that prolonged AHR activation either because of inefficient ligand metabolism or because of genetic manipulation may underlie the distinction between beneficial and detrimental effects. Our data indicate that prolonged AHR activation caused toxic endpoints for liver and thymus but was not per se interfering with the host response to infection with the intestinal pathogen C. rodentium Genetically driven constitutive AHR activation improved resistance to infection, whereas prolonged AHR activation by the pollutant TCDD resulted in delayed clearance of C. rodentium associated with a suppression in antibody production. Combined single-cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq analysis provided evidence that TCDD, but not genetic AHR activation, negatively affected dendritic cell functions such as activation, maturation, and antigen presentation. Thus, the detrimental impact of environmental pollutants such as TCDD on immune responses cannot solely be attributed to aberrantly prolonged activation of AHR.