TGFβ prevents IgE-mediated allergic disease by restraining T follicular helper 2 differentiation

Abstract

Allergic diseases are common, affecting more than 20% of the population. Genetic variants in the TGFβ pathway are strongly associated with atopy. To interrogate the mechanisms underlying this association, we examined patients and mice with Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) who harbor missense mutations in the kinase domain of TGFΒR1/2. We demonstrate that LDS mutations lead to reduced TGFβ signaling and elevated total and allergen-specific IgE, despite the presence of wild-type T regulatory cells in a chimera model. Germinal center activity was enhanced in LDS and characterized by a selective increase in type 2 follicular helper T cells (T_FH2). Expression of Pik3cg was increased in LDS T_FH cells and associated with reduced levels of the transcriptional repressor SnoN. PI3Kγ/mTOR signaling in LDS naïve CD4⁺ T cells was elevated after T cell receptor cross-linking, and pharmacologic inhibition of PI3Kγ or mTOR prevented exaggerated T_FH2 and antigen-specific IgE responses after oral antigen exposure in an adoptive transfer model. Naïve CD4⁺ T cells from nonsyndromic allergic individuals also displayed decreased TGFβ signaling, suggesting that our mechanistic discoveries may be broadly relevant to allergic patients in general. Thus, TGFβ plays a conserved, T cell-intrinsic, and nonredundant role in restraining T_FH2 development via the PI3Kγ/mTOR pathway and thereby protects against allergic disease.