The body-brain axis is emerging as a principal conductor of organismal physiology. It senses and controls organ function^1,2, metabolism³ and nutritional state^4-6. Here, we show that a peripheral immune insult powerfully activates the body-brain axis to regulate immune responses. We demonstrate that pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines communicate with distinct populations of vagal neurons to inform the brain of an emerging inflammatory response. In turn, the brain tightly modulates the course of the peripheral immune response. Genetic silencing of this body-to-brain circuit produced unregulated and out-of-control inflammatory responses. By contrast, activating, rather than silencing, this circuit affords exceptional neural control of immune responses. We used single-cell RNA sequencing, combined with functional imaging, to identify the circuit components of this neuro-immune axis, and showed that its selective manipulation can effectively suppress the pro-inflammatory response while enhancing an anti-inflammatory state. The brain-evoked transformation of the course of an immune response offers new possibilities in the modulation of a wide range of immune disorders, from autoimmune diseases to cytokine storm and shock.

体脑轴正在成为有机体生理学的主要传导者。它感知和控制器官功能^1,2、新陈代谢³和营养状态^4-6。在这里，我们证明外周免疫损伤可以强有力地激活体脑轴来调节免疫反应。我们证明促炎和抗炎细胞因子与不同的迷走神经元群体进行通信，以告知大脑正在出现的炎症反应。反过来，大脑紧密调节外周免疫反应的过程。这种身体到大脑回路的基因沉默产生了不受调节和失控的炎症反应。相比之下，激活而不是沉默该回路提供了对免疫反应的特殊神经控制。我们利用单细胞RNA测序结合功能成像来识别该神经免疫轴的回路组成，并表明对其进行选择性操作可以有效抑制促炎反应，同时增强抗炎状态。大脑诱发的免疫反应过程的转变为调节多种免疫疾病（从自身免疫性疾病到细胞因子风暴和休克）提供了新的可能性。