Corticotropin-releasing factor secretion from dendritic cells stimulated by commensal bacteria

AIM: To study the production and secretion of corticotropin- releasing factor (CRF) by dendritic cells and the influence of commensal bacteria. METHODS: JAWS II cells (ATCC CRL-11904), a mouse dendritic cell line, were seeded into 24-well culture plates and grown for 3 d. Commensal bacterial strains of Clostridium clostrodiiforme (JCM1291), Bacteroides vulgatus (B. vulgatus) (JCM5856), Escherichia coli (JCM1649), or Fusobacterium varium (F. varium) (ATCC8501) were added to the cells except for the control well, and incubated for 2 h. After incubation, we performed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the cultured medium and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for the dendritic cells, and compared these values with controls. RESULTS: The level of CRF secretion by control dendritic cells was 40.4 +/- 6.2 pg/mL. The CRF levels for cells incubated with F. varium and B. vulgatus were significantly higher than that of the control (P < 0.0001). CRF mRNA was present in the control sample without bacteria, and CRF mRNA levels in all samples treated with bacteria were above that of the control sample. F. varium caused the greatest increase in CRF mRNA expression. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that dendritic cells produce CRF, a process augmented by commensal bacteria.