• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Nicotine Treatment Improves TLR2 and TLR9 Responsiveness

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
A growing body of evidence indicates that nicotine has potent immunomodulatory actions, including suppression of Th1-type immune responses, through its interaction with the nicotinic cholinergic receptor α7 subunit (α7 nAChR)8, 9.


Chest. 2013 Feb 1;143(2):461-70.
Nicotine treatment improves Toll-like receptor 2 and Toll-like receptor 9 responsiveness in active pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Julian MW1, Shao G, Schlesinger LS, Huang Q, Cosmar DG, Bhatt NY, Culver DA, Baughman RP, Wood KL, Crouser ED.
Author information

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
New evidence links nicotine to the regulation of T cell-mediated inflammation via a 7 nicotinic cholinergic receptor activation, and chronic nicotine exposure (smoking) reduces the incidence of granulomatous diseases. We sought to determine whether nicotine treatment was well tolerated while effectively normalizing immune responses in patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis.

METHODS:
Consenting adults with symptomatic sarcoidosis (n 5 13) were randomly assigned to receive 12 weeks of nicotine treatment plus conventional therapy or conventional therapy alone. Obtained blood cells were evaluated for their responsiveness to selected Toll-like receptor (TLR) and nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor ligands and T cell surface marker expression before and after nicotine treatment. Asymptomatic patients (n 5 6) and disease-free subjects (n 5 6) served as comparative control subjects. Adverse events were monitored for the duration of the study.

RESULTS:
Compared with the asymptomatic group, symptomatic patients had impaired peripheral responses to TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9 ligands (anergy) and reduced peripheral populations of CD4 1 FoxP3 1 regulatory T cells (Tregs). Nicotine treatment was associated with restoration of TLR2 and TLR9 responsiveness, and expansion of Tregs, including the CD4 1 CD25 2 FoxP3 1 phenotype. There were no serious adverse events or signs of nicotine dependency.

CONCLUSIONS:
Nicotine treatment in active pulmonary sarcoidosis was well tolerated and restored peripheral immune responsiveness to TLR2 and TLR9 agonists and expansion of FoxP3 1 Tregs, including a specific “preactivated” (CD25 2 ) phenotype. The immune phenotype of patients with symptomatic sarcoidosis treated with nicotine closely resembled that of asymptomatic patients, supporting the notion that nicotine treatment may be beneficial in this patient population.
 
Last edited:

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
I need both nicotine and an a7AchR agonist.

I doubt in my case the benefits are the result of suppressing Th1-type immune responses