The decrease of fucosylation in intestinal epithelium is related to the development of necrotizing enterocolitis

• Published in: Molecular immunology 2021-03, Vol.131, p.23-32
• Main Authors: She, Xiang, Du, Hua, Yi, Cong, He, Yu, Ai, Qing, Yu, Jialin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Child, Preschool; Cytokines - metabolism; Disease Models, Animal; Enterocolitis, Necrotizing - metabolism; Enterocolitis, Necrotizing - pathology; Epithelial Cells - metabolism; Epithelial Cells - pathology; Epithelial fucosylation; Female; Fucosyltransferase 2; Fucosyltransferases - metabolism; Humans; Inflammation - metabolism; Inflammation - pathology; Interleukin-22; Interleukins - metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa - pathology; Intestines - pathology; Male; Mice; Necrotizing enterocolitis; Type 3 innate lymphoid cells
• ISSN: 0161-5890; 1872-9142
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2020.12.036

•Alteration of intestinal epithelial fucosylation is observed in NEC.•Defective epithelial fucosylation exacerbates intestinal injury in NEC mice.•Intestinal ILC3s and IL-22 are reduced in NEC mice. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating neonatal gastrointestinal emergency. Fucosylated glycans on intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) play a central role in the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis. Nevertheless, its association with necrotizing enterocolitis is not clear. We examined paraffin-embedded intestinal specimens from participants and found that the NEC patients showed lower intestinal epithelial fucosylation levels than the control patients. In the mouse model of NEC, the percentage of fucosylated epithelial cells (F-ECs) and ILC3s was decreased. Also, the expression levels of IL-22 and Fut2 were reduced. Moreover, the critical role of epithelial fucosylation in NEC was further confirmed by administering the anti-IL-22 antibody, which caused an increase in histological damage, body weight loss, intestinal permeability and proinflammatory cytokine release correlated with a reduction of F-ECs. Overall, intestinal fucosylation deficiency led to increased susceptibility and severity of NEC. Further studies are needed to determine whether modification of intestinal fucosylation affects the development of NEC.