Fig. 4: dAGEs act as mucosal adjuvants to stimulate Th2-mediated allergic responses to a concomitant food allergen.

a–h To explore the Th2-adjuvant activity of dAGEs, C57BL/6J mice were exposed to BSA-AGE alone or in the presence of model allergen OVA via i.g. gavage to establish an adjuvant-free model of food allergy: a Schematic illustration of the study design^#. b Clinical allergy score of mice upon last challenge (n = 6). c Rectal temperature change after last challenge (n = 6). d Serum total IgE level (n = 6). e Serum OVA-specific antibody level (IgE, IgG1 and IgG2a; n = 5–6). f Representative cell sorting plots and quantification of Th1 and Th2 cells in MLN lymphocytes by flow cytometry (n = 6). g Gut permeability assessed by an FITC-dextran assay (n = 6). h Relative expression levels of genes related to intestinal barrier integrity, type 2 immunity, and pro-inflammatory responses in the intestine (n = 5–6). i, j Mouse BMDCs were ex vivo treated with BSA-AGE to assess its effect on DCs phenotype (n = 5). PBS-/BSA- and LPS-treated cells were the negative and positive controls, respectively. Flow cytometry of CD80⁺, CD86⁺, MHC-II⁺, and OX40L⁺ cells in CD11b⁺ CD11c⁺ cells were analyzed. Bar graphs show mean ± SEM (e, h, i) and boxplots represent median with 25th/75th percentiles (box) and 1.5 × IQR (whiskers) (b–d, f, g). Comparisons were performed using one-way ANOVA or Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by appropriate post-hoc tests for pairwise comparisons. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. BMDCs bone marrow-derived dendritic cells, BSA-AGE methylglyoxal-glycated bovine serum albumin, dAGEs dietary advanced glycation end-products, i.g. intragastric, LPS lipopolysaccharide, MHC-II class II major histocompatibility complex, MLN mesenteric lymph nodes, OVA ovalbumin, OX40L OX40 ligand. ^#Created in BioRender. Zhang (2025) https://BioRender.com/pf8iqnb. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.