{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T09:57:56Z","timestamp":1780912676759,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Chlamydia muridarum<\/jats:italic>\n                    continuously sheds live organisms and persists in the large intestine following intracolonic inoculation, while the live-attenuated chlamydia oral vaccine intrOv, an IFN\u03b3-susceptible mutant of\n                    <jats:italic>C. muridarum<\/jats:italic>\n                    , fails to do so. IFN\u03b3 delivered by group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) have been shown to block intrOv shedding. We now report that mice deficient in lymphocytes but competent in ILCs allowed intrOv to persist, revealing a critical role of lymphocytes for preventing intrOv persistence. The responsible lymphocyte subsets are natural killer T cells (NKTs), as mice deficient in either CD1d or \u03b22m permitted intrOv to persist. We further narrowed the responsible cells to invariant NKTs (iNKTs) that produce IFN\u03b3, as mice deficient in TCR\u03b1 J18 segment (Traj18), T-bet, or IFN\u03b3 failed to prevent intrOv persistence. Consistently, intrOv induced IFN\u03b3\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    iNKTs, and wild-type iNKTs prevented intrOv persistence in mice deficient in either lymphocytes or IFN\u03b3. Thus, IFN\u03b3\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    iNKTs are both necessary and sufficient for preventing intrOv persistence, while IFN\u03b3\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    ILC3s are for blocking intrOv shedding, revealing a division of labor between IFN\u03b3\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    iNKTs and IFN\u03b3\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    ILC3s in regulating the interaction of the obligate intracellular Chlamydia with host mucosal tissue. The information is also essential for improving the safety and efficacy of intrOv as an oral vaccine.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1851941","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T05:27:38Z","timestamp":1780291658000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["IFN\u03b3-producing iNKTs restrict a live-attenuated chlamydia oral vaccine in the large intestine"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Ahmed Mohamed","family":"Abdelsalam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio","place":["San Antonio, TX, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio","place":["San Antonio, TX, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mitchell","family":"Kronenberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"La Jolla Institute for Immunology","place":["La Jolla, CA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huizhou","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School","place":["Piscataway, NJ, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guangming","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio","place":["San Antonio, TX, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/infdis\/152.6.1275","article-title":"Chlamydia trachomatis: its role in tubal infertility","volume":"152","author":"Brunham","year":"1985","journal-title":"J Infect Dis"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/aog.0b013e3182519326","article-title":"Chlamydia trachomatis antigens recognized in women with tubal factor infertility, normal fertility, and acute infection","volume":"119","author":"Budrys","year":"2012","journal-title":"Obstet Gynecol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1960.03020150001001","article-title":"Trachoma-studies of etiology, laboratory diagnosis, and prevention","volume":"172","author":"Grayston","year":"1960","journal-title":"J Am Med Assoc"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1097\/olq.0000000000000998","article-title":"Detection of rectal Chlamydia trachomatis in heterosexual men who report cunnilingus","volume":"46","author":"Batteiger","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sex Transm Dis"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2020-054533","article-title":"Determinants associated with viable genital or rectal Chlamydia trachomatis bacterial load (FemCure)","volume":"98","author":"Janssen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.21775\/9781912530281.19","article-title":"Animal models of Chlamydia trachomatis infection","volume-title":"Chlamydia biology: from genome to disease","author":"Zhong","year":"2020"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tim.2017.12.002","article-title":"Chlamydia spreading from the genital tract to the gastrointestinal tract - 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