A gammaherpesvirus infection protects against allergic asthma.

The “hygiene hypothesis” proposes that the augmentation of allergic diseases in developed countries could be linked to a reduced exposure to infections during childhood. Surprisingly, the potential protective role of herpesvirus infections against allergy development has never been addressed directly. In this study, we used the Murid herpesvirus 4 (MuHV-4) to study the impact of a persistent gammaherpesvirus infection on the development of House Dust Mites (HDM)-induced allergic asthma. Our results revealed that MuHV-4 infection affects both the sensitization and the challenging phases of HDM-induced airway allergy. In particular, we highlighted that MuHV-4 infection strongly impacts the lung innate immune response. Indeed, while the dendritic cells remained competent to uptake antigens and to migrate to the draining lymph nodes, MuHV-4 infection impaired their ability to trigger HDM sensitization. In the future, these results could allow us to develop strategies to prevent the development of TH2-skewed responses against respiratory allergens.