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Reply to: ‘Lack of evidence for intergenerational inheritance of immune resistance to infections’

Nature Immunology volume 23, pages 208–209 (2022)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 20 January 2022

replying to E. Kaufmann et al. Nature Immunology [Matters Arising https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01102-0] (2021)

We read with great interest the study by Kaufmann and colleagues investigating the possibility that protection to reinfection may be transmitted intergenerationally in mice1. The authors found no such inheritance of resistance in models using BCG, β-glucan or a Candida albicans infection as potential inducers of trained immunity. This is different from our recent findings2 in which we show, based on independent experimental data from different laboratories, that a C. albicans infection or zymosan injection can induce intergenerational protection in three models of bacterial or fungal infections, and influences immunological responses to endotoxemia. We are very encouraged that this topic is gaining increased interest: it is indeed important that more information is becoming available regarding variations between different laboratories and conditions. The reason for the discrepancy between the findings in the two studies is unclear, and it likely involves local differences in mouse substrains, housing, diet, microbiome, infection models or other factors. These findings underscore the effect of the environment on the intergenerational inheritance of infection resistance. What these environmental factors are and how these factors are integrated with regards to intergenerational inheritance remains largely elusive at this time. One intriguing possibility that needs to be tested in future studies is whether such effects may be more robust in outbred wild mice, in which subtle environmental changes may have less strong impact.

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References

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Natalie Katzmarski, Jorge Domínguez-Andrés, Branko Cirovic, Thierry Roger, Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Andreas Schlitzer, Mihai G. Netea.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quantitative Systems Biology, Life and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Natalie Katzmarski, Branko Cirovic & Andreas Schlitzer

  2. Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious diseases, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Jorge Domínguez-Andrés, Jos W. M. van der Meer, Leo A. B. Joosten & Mihai G. Netea

  3. Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Jorge Domínguez-Andrés, Leo A. B. Joosten & Mihai G. Netea

  4. 4th Department of Internal Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece

    Georgios Renieris & Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis

  5. Infectious Diseases Service, Department of Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

    Eleonora Ciarlo, Didier Le Roy & Thierry Roger

  6. Department of Genetics/Epigenetics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Konstantin Lepikhov, Kathrin Kattler, Gilles Gasparoni & Jörn Walter

  7. PRECISE, Platform for Single Cell Genomics and Epigenomics at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Kristian Händler, Heidi Theis & Marc Beyer

  8. Molecular Immunology in Neurodegeneration, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany

    Marc Beyer & Joachim L. Schultze

  9. Department for Genomics & Immunoregulation, Life and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Joachim L. Schultze

  10. Department for Immunology & Metabolism, Life and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Mihai G. Netea

Authors
  1. Natalie Katzmarski
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  2. Jorge Domínguez-Andrés
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  4. Georgios Renieris
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  13. Jos W. M. van der Meer
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  14. Leo A. B. Joosten
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  16. Joachim L. Schultze
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  18. Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis
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  19. Andreas Schlitzer
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  20. Mihai G. Netea
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Contributions

All authors contributed to writing and correcting of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jorge Domínguez-Andrés.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zoltan Fehervari was the primary editor on this article and managed its editorial process and peer review in collaboration with the rest of the editorial team.

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Katzmarski, N., Domínguez-Andrés, J., Cirovic, B. et al. Reply to: ‘Lack of evidence for intergenerational inheritance of immune resistance to infections’. Nat Immunol 23, 208–209 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01103-z

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