Surfactant protein A modulates the activities of the JAK/STAT pathway in suppressing Th1 and Th17 polarization in murine OVA-induced allergic asthma.

Asthma is an allergic inflammatory lung disease affecting nearly 300 million people worldwide. To better understand asthma, new regulators must be identified. We conducted a study to investigate the effect and mechanisms of action of surfactant protein A (SPA) in OVA-induced asthmatic mice. Treatment with SPA delayed the onset of asthma, decreased its severity, as well as notably suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Furthermore, SPA-treated mice possessed more leukocytes; more CD4+ T cells infiltrated the spleen in the SPA-treated mice than in the control mice, and there were decreased percentages of Th1 and Th17 cells in vivo. In addition, expression levels of the T-bet (Th1 transcription factor) and RORγt (Th17 transcription factor) genes were significantly downregulated by SPA treatment. Moreover, SPA reduced the production and mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNAs in activated T cells in vivo. Mechanistically, SPA could inhibit STAT1/4 and STAT3 phosphorylation, resulting in the differentiation of Th1 and suppression of Th17 cells, respectively. In the presence of CD3/CD28 expression, STAT1/4 and STAT3 were activated but suppressed by SPA, which was responsible for the augmentation of Th1 and Th17 differentiation. This result showed that SPA can effectively modulate the JAK/STAT pathway by suppressing Th1 and Th17 differentiation, thus preventing asthma. The present study reveals the novel immunomodulatory activity of SPA and highlights the importance of further investigating the effects of SPA on asthma.