Nociceptor neurons control pollution-mediated neutrophilic asthma.
Overview
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, University de Montreal Montreal Canada
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University Montreal Canada
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University Kingston Canada
- Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University Montreal Canada
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden
Abstract
The immune and sensory nervous systems, having evolved in parallel, communicate through shared receptors and transmitters to maintain homeostasis and respond to both external and internal disruptions. Although neural responses often confer protective benefits, they can also exacerbate inflammation during allergic reactions such as asthma. In our study, we modeled pollution-exacerbated asthma by exposing mice to ambient PM2.5 particles alongside ovalbumin. Compared to exposure to ovalbumin alone, this co-exposure significantly increased the numbers of neutrophils and γδ T cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung tissue, respectively. We found that silencing nociceptor neurons at the peak of inflammation using intranasal QX-314 or ablating Trpv1-expressing neurons reduced lung neutrophil accumulation. Live in vivo intravital imaging confirmed that neuronal ablation reduced neutrophil numbers and increased their net displacement capacity. In neurons isolated from mice with pollution-exacerbated asthma, the chemical-sensing TRPA1 channel exhibited heightened sensitivity to its cognate ligand. Elevated levels of artemin were detected in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of pollution-exposed mice but returned to baseline in mice with ablated nociceptor neurons. Alveolar macrophages expressing the pollution-sensing aryl hydrocarbon receptor were identified as a putative source of artemin following exposure to PM2.5. This molecule enhanced TRPA1 responsiveness and, in turn, drove nociceptor-mediated neutrophil recruitment, revealing a novel mechanism by which lung-innervating neurons respond to air pollution in the context of allergy. Overall, our findings suggest that targeting artemin-driven pathways could provide a therapeutic strategy for controlling neutrophilic airway inflammation in asthma, a clinical condition typically refractory to treatment.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Data
Datasets cited
- doi:10.5061/
dryad.hhmgqnkwq , at Dryad; found in “Data availability”
Data availability
Bulk RNA-sequencing raw and processed data have been deposited in the NCBI's Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE298583). Processed data can also be accessed in Supplementary file 1. Additional information and raw data are available at https://
The following datasets were generated:
CrossonT RoversiK WangJ TalbotS 2025Nociceptor neurons control pollution-mediated neutrophilic asthma; Expression profile of vagal nociceptor neurons in air pollution-exacerbated allergic airway inflammattionNCBI Gene Expression OmnibusGSE298583
TalbotS Dryad Digital Repository2026Nociceptor
The following previously published datasets were used:
Kupari 2019An atlas of vagal sensory neurons and their molecular specializationNCBI Gene Expression OmnibusGSE12431210.1016/
Zhao 2022A molecular architecture of the vagal interoceptive systemNCBI Gene Expression OmnibusGSE192987
Zilionis 2019Single cell transcriptomics of human and mouse lung cancers reveals conserved myeloid populations across individuals and speciesNCBI Gene Expression OmnibusGSE12746510.1016/
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 9 authors, 7 keywords, 13 MeSH terms, 7 funders, 115 references, 19 RRIDs.
Cite
This paper
Wang, J.-C., Kulle, A., Crosson, T., Reza Nikpoor, A., Gupta, S., Roger, A., Rafei, M., Thanabalasuriar, A., & Talbot, S. (2026). Nociceptor neurons control pollution-mediated neutrophilic asthma. eLife, 13, RP101988. https://
BibTeX
@article{wang2026nocicep
author = {Wang, Jo-Chiao and Kulle, Amelia and Crosson, Theo and Reza Nikpoor, Amin and Gupta, Surbhi and Roger, Anais and Rafei, Moutih and Thanabalasuriar, Ajitha and Talbot, Sebastien},
title = {{Nociceptor neurons control pollution-mediated neutrophilic asthma}},
journal = {eLife},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
volume = {13},
pages = {RP101988},
publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd},
issn = {2050-084X},
doi = {10.7554/
url = {https://
pmid = {41891831},
pmcid = {PMC13030891}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Wang, Jo-Chiao
AU - Kulle, Amelia
AU - Crosson, Theo
AU - Reza Nikpoor, Amin
AU - Gupta, Surbhi
AU - Roger, Anais
AU - Rafei, Moutih
AU - Thanabalasuriar, Ajitha
AU - Talbot, Sebastien
TI - Nociceptor neurons control pollution-mediated neutrophilic asthma
T2 - eLife
J2 - eLife
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 13
SP - RP101988
SN - 2050-084X
PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
DO - 10.7554/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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