TY - JOUR AU - Chatterjee, Sangya AU - Rückert, Tamina AU - Martin, Ina AU - Michaeli, Elisa AU - Buescher, Joerg AU - Apostolova, Petya AU - Erny, Daniel AU - Lalioti, Maria-Eleni AU - Biavasco, Francesca AU - Hartmann, Alina AU - Runge, Solveig AU - Braun, Lukas M AU - Talvard-Balland, Nana AU - Adams, Rachael C AU - Schmitt-Graeff, Annette AU - Cook, James AU - Wenger, Valentin AU - Athanassopoulos, Dimitrios AU - Hasavci, Dilara AU - Vallejo-Janeta, Alexander Paolo AU - Blank, Thomas AU - Schaible, Philipp AU - Vinnakota, Janaki Manoja AU - Zähringer, Alexander AU - Ganal-Vonarburg, Stephanie C AU - Melchinger, Wolfgang AU - Pfeifer, Dietmar AU - Köhler, Natalie AU - Rosshart, Stephan P AU - Michonneau, David AU - Socié, Gérard AU - Andrieux, Geoffroy AU - Cabezas-Wallscheid, Nina AU - Börries, Melanie AU - Prinz, Marco AU - Zeiser, Robert TI - Gut microbiota-derived TMAVA is a modulator of acute CNS-GVHD. JO - Journal of experimental medicine VL - 222 IS - 9 SN - 0022-1007 CY - New York, NY PB - Rockefeller Univ. Press M1 - DKFZ-2025-01359 SP - e20242180 PY - 2025 AB - Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) can affect the central nervous system (CNS) through microglial activation and T cell infiltration, but the role of gut microbiota in CNS-aGVHD remains unclear. Here, we investigated the role of microbiota in microglial activation during aGVHD using antibiotic-treated specific pathogen-free (SPF), germ-free (GF), and wildling mice. Antibiotic-mediated microbiota depletion led to infiltration of IFN-γ-producing T cells in the brain, activation of microglia via the TLR4/p38 MAPK pathway, and neurocognitive deficits in SPF aGVHD mice. Microglial depletion reversed the neurocognitive deficits. GF and wildling mice treated with antibiotics exhibited similar microglial activation after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Mechanistically, the bacteria-derived metabolite N,N,N-trimethyl-5-aminovaleric acid (TMAVA) was decreased in microglia following antibiotic treatment. TMAVA administration suppressed TLR4/p38 MAPK pathway activity in microglia and alleviated gut microbiota depletion-mediated neurocognitive deficits. Additionally, TMAVA abundance decreased in patient blood after allo-HCT and after GVHD onset. In summary, we identify TMAVA loss as a central causative factor for CNS-aGVHD, opening new perspectives for a metabolite-based therapy. KW - Animals KW - Gastrointestinal Microbiome: drug effects KW - Microglia: metabolism KW - Microglia: drug effects KW - Graft vs Host Disease: microbiology KW - Graft vs Host Disease: metabolism KW - Graft vs Host Disease: pathology KW - Graft vs Host Disease: etiology KW - Mice KW - Toll-Like Receptor 4: metabolism KW - Mice, Inbred C57BL KW - Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: adverse effects KW - Humans KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents: pharmacology KW - Male KW - p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases: metabolism KW - Acute Disease KW - Central Nervous System: pathology KW - T-Lymphocytes: immunology KW - Female KW - Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms KW - Toll-Like Receptor 4 (NLM Chemicals) KW - Anti-Bacterial Agents (NLM Chemicals) KW - p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (NLM Chemicals) LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 C6 - pmid:40627379 DO - DOI:10.1084/jem.20242180 UR - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/302819 ER -