Immune responses are highly complex and intricately regulated processes involving immune and non-immune cells in close direct and indirect contact with each other. These cells are highly sensitive to environmental signals, including factors derived from microbiota. Here, we demonstrate that the human microbiota member Lactobacillus casei (L. casei)-derived cell-free supernatant (CFS) enhances the sensitivity of mesenchymal-stromal-cell-like (MSCI) cells to viral stimuli and induces the development of dendritic cells (DCs) with anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties via pretreated MSCl cells. Our results showed that the production of INFβ and CXCL10 by MSCl cells upon viral stimulation was dependent on the presence of L. casei-derived extracellular vesicles in CFS during pretreatment. Moreover, L. casei CFS and/or poly (I:C)-conditioned MSCI cells altered the differentiation process of freshly isolated monocytes, as well as the developing DCs' phenotype and functional activities, such as cytokine and chemokine secretion. Taken together, L. casei CFS contains factors which contribute to the pronounced antiviral response of MSCI cells, avoiding the development of inflammation via the induction of differentiation of anti-inflammatory DCs that retain their antiviral properties.
Keywords: Lactobacillus; dendritic cells; extracellular vesicles; immunomodulation; mesenchymal stromal cells.