Cutting Edge: Intestinal Mucus Limits the Clonal Deletion of Developing T Cells Specific for an Oral Antigen

A layer of mucus functions to segregate contents of the intestinal lumen from the intestinal epithelium. The MUC2 mucin is the primary constituent of intestinal mucus and plays critical protective roles against luminal microbes and other noxious agents. In this study, we investigated whether MUC2 helps maintain CD8 T cell tolerance toward intestinal luminal Ags by gavaging wild-type and Muc2 -/- mice with a model Ag and monitoring immune responses posttreatment. We report that orally delivered OVA rapidly disseminates through the blood of Muc2 -/- (but not control) mice and causes immune activation of Ag-specific CD8 T cells at both local and distal sites. Further, the administration of oral OVA to Muc2 -/- mice led to its presentation by thymic dendritic cells and the deletion of Ag-specific thymocytes. Collectively, our findings suggest that intestinal mucus helps limit the shaping of the TCR repertoire of developing thymocytes by intestinal luminal Ags.