The pathogenesis of chronic eosinophilic esophagitis in SHARPIN-deficient mice

• SHARPIN-deficient mice develop an eosinophilic esophagitis.
• Esophagitis is characterized by intraepithelial accumulation of eosinophils.
• Positive correlation between number of eosinophils and epithelial thickness.
• Pathogenesis of esophagitis is independent of B and T lymphocytes.
• Increased expression of CHIL3 and CHIL4 proteins in esophageal epithelial cells.

Increased numbers of eosinophils in the esophagus are common in several esophageal and systemic diseases, and a prominent feature of eosinophilic esophagitis. Mouse models can provide insight into the mechanisms of eosinophil infiltration and their pathogenic role. SHARPIN-deficient cpdm mice develop a chronic proliferative dermatitis and an esophagitis characterized by epithelial hyperplasia and the accumulation of eosinophils in the serosa, submucosa, lamina propria and epithelium of the esophagus. We conducted a detailed investigation of the pathogenesis of the esophagitis by light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and gene expression as the mice aged from 4 to 10 weeks. The thickness of the esophageal epithelium and the number of eosinophils in the esophagus both increased with age. There were scattered apoptotic epithelial cells in mice at 6–10 weeks of age that reacted with antibodies to activated caspase 3 and caspase 9. The expression of CCL11 (eotaxin-1), IL4, IL13 and TSLP was increased in cpdm mice compared with wild type (WT) mice, and there was no change in the expression of CCL24 (eotaxin-2), IL5 and IL33. The expression of chitinase-like 3 and 4 (YM1 and YM2) proteins, markers of type 2 inflammation, was greatly increased in cpdm mice, and this was replicated in vitro by incubation of WT esophagus in the presence of IL4 and IL13. Immunohistochemistry showed that these proteins were localized in esophageal epithelial cells. The severity of the esophagitis was not affected by crossing SHARPIN-deficient mice with lymphocyte-deficient Rag1 null mice indicating that the inflammation is independent of B and T lymphocytes.