ResearchIn-Press PreviewInfectious diseaseInflammation
Open Access | 10.1172/jci.insight.189362
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Liu, Y. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Wang, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Lin, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Sun, D. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Zhu, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Diao, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Fu, Q. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
1Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China
2Department of Radiotherapy, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan, China
3Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Find articles by Ren, Q. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Published March 18, 2025 - More info
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most commonly encountered infections in clinical practice, in which psychological stress is a critical pathological contributor to modulate immune function. However, mechanistic pathways linking stress networks in the brain to bladder infection remain poorly understood. In this study, we discovered that acute stress treatment suppressed bladder inflammation in mice with UTIs, and a significant number of neurons showing overlap between inflammation-associated markers and retrograde labeling were observed in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) brain region of these mice. Activation of PVN alleviated UPEC-induced bladder inflammatory response. Moreover, blocked hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reversed the anti-inflammatory reflex mediated by acute stress, suggesting that the potential of glucocorticoids levels through the brain-body circuits to ameliorate UTIs. Single cell-RNAseq of bladder immune cells revealed that type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) expressed abundant levels of glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The activation of PVN effectively inhibited the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine Csf2 by ILC2 through direct regulation of cell-intrinsic glucocorticoids signaling. Ultimately, our study has implications for the positioning of brain-body circuit for UTIs treatment.