The Airway Antigen Sampling System: Respiratory M Cells as an Alternative Gateway for Inhaled Antigens

In this study, we demonstrated a new airway Ag sampling site by analyzing tissue sections of the murine nasal passages. We revealed the presence of respiratory M cells, which had the ability to take up OVA and recombinant Salmonella typhimurium expressing GFP, in the turbinates covered with single-layer epithelium. These M cells were also capable of taking up respiratory pathogen group A Streptococcus after nasal challenge. Inhibitor of DNA binding/differentiation 2 (Id2)-deficient mice, which are deficient in lymphoid tissues, including nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue, had a similar frequency of M cell clusters in their nasal epithelia to that of their littermates, Id2(+/-) mice. The titers of Ag-specific Abs were as high in Id2(-/-) mice as in Id2(+/-) mice after nasal immunization with recombinant Salmonella-ToxC or group A Streptococcus, indicating that respiratory M cells were capable of sampling inhaled bacterial Ag to initiate an Ag-specific immune response. Taken together, these findings suggest that respiratory M cells act as a nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue-independent alternative gateway for Ag sampling and subsequent induction of Ag-specific immune responses in the upper respiratory tract.