A beneficial environment promotes immune resilience through epigenetic regulation

Environmental factors are often detrimental; however, certain environments enhance immune resilience. Notably, children raised on traditional farms show reduced allergies and asthma prevalence. Here, we investigated how a beneficial environment, using farm dust (FD) extract, influenced lung immune function in ovalbumin-induced allergic inflammation. FD exposure reduced allergic lung inflammation and increased monocyte-derived macrophage (MDM) recruitment. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed that FD-exposed MDMs had altered gene expression, including dampened <i>Ccl8</i> and major histocompatibility complex class II expression, impairing eosinophil recruitment and antigen presentation. RNA sequencing and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing confirmed FD-induced epigenetic reprogramming ex vivo, on bone marrow-derived macrophages. This modulation, seen in both human and murine cells, relied on histone deacetylase activity sustained by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ signaling. These findings suggest that beneficial environmental exposures can reprogram immune cells and may offer a previously unidentified strategy for asthma prevention.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2026-02-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ady7317
Primary Topic
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

A beneficial environment promotes immune resilience through epigenetic regulation

Y Chen, S Chen, Thomas M. Conlon, Ahmed Agami et al.
Science Advances
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
article

A beneficial environment promotes immune resilience through epigenetic regulation

Y Chen, S Chen, Thomas M. Conlon, Ahmed Agami, Aicha Jeridi, Zeynep Ertüz, Barbara U. Schraml, Guilherme Dragunas, Johanna Berner, Michael Wegmann, Jimmy Omony, Christoph H. Mayr, Jelena Popović, Bettina Rankl, Markus Klotz, Theodoros Kapellos, Ülkü Rabia Korkmaz, Soni Shankhwar, Henrik Watz, Chung-Wen Lin, Pascal Falter-Braun, Christoph Müller, Erika von Mutius, Xiaomei Tan, Ali Önder Yildirim, Lars Lunding, Herbert Schiller, Deepesh Dhakad, Heiko Adler
article en

Abstract

Environmental factors are often detrimental; however, certain environments enhance immune resilience. Notably, children raised on traditional farms show reduced allergies and asthma prevalence. Here, we investigated how a beneficial environment, using farm dust (FD) extract, influenced lung immune function in ovalbumin-induced allergic inflammation. FD exposure reduced allergic lung inflammation and increased monocyte-derived macrophage (MDM) recruitment. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed that FD-exposed MDMs had altered gene expression, including dampened <i>Ccl8</i> and major histocompatibility complex class II expression, impairing eosinophil recruitment and antigen presentation. RNA sequencing and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing confirmed FD-induced epigenetic reprogramming ex vivo, on bone marrow-derived macrophages. This modulation, seen in both human and murine cells, relied on histone deacetylase activity sustained by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ signaling. These findings suggest that beneficial environmental exposures can reprogram immune cells and may offer a previously unidentified strategy for asthma prevention.

Science AdvancesVol. 12(9)
Center for Environmental Health (US), Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE), LMU Klinikum (DE), Research Center Borstel - Leibniz Lung Center (DE), German Center for Lung Research (DE), Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich (DE), Velocity Clinical Research (United States) (US), Target (Germany) (DE), Urologische Klinik München (DE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), University of Lübeck (DE)
European Commission, Deutsches Zentrum für Lungenforschung
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 45%
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.