Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) can promote host defense, chronic inflammation, or tissue protection and are regulated by cytokines and neuropeptides. However, their regulation by diet and microbiota-derived signals remains unclear.
We show that an inulin fiber diet promotes Tph1-expressing inflammatory ILC2s (ILC2INFLAM) in the colon, which produce IL-5 but not tissue-protective amphiregulin (AREG), resulting in the accumulation of eosinophils. This exacerbates inflammation in a murine model of intestinal damage and inflammation in an ILC2- and eosinophil-dependent manner. Mechanistically, the inulin fiber diet elevated microbiota-derived bile acids, including cholic acid (CA) that induced expression of ILC2-activating IL-33.
In IBD patients, bile acids, their receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR), IL-33, and eosinophils were all upregulated compared with controls, implicating this diet–microbiota–ILC2 axis in human IBD pathogenesis.
Together, these data reveal that dietary fiber–induced changes in microbial metabolites operate as a rheostat that governs protective versus pathologic ILC2 responses with relevance to precision nutrition for inflammatory diseases.
