scholarly journals Human CD8+ T cells exhibit a shared antigen threshold for different effector responses

Author(s):  
Enas Abu-Shah ◽  
Nicola Trendel ◽  
Philipp Kruger ◽  
John Nguyen ◽  
Johannes Pettmann ◽  
...  

AbstractT cells recognising cognate pMHC antigens become activated to elicit a myriad of cellular responses, such as target cell killing and the secretion of different cytokines, that collectively contribute to adaptive immunity. These effector responses have been hypothesised to exhibit different antigen dose and affinity thresholds, suggesting that pathogen-specific information may be encoded within the nature of the antigen. Here, using systematic experiments in a reductionist system, where primary human CD8+ T cell blasts are stimulated by recombinant pMHC antigen alone, we show that different inflammatory cytokines have comparable antigen dose thresholds across a 25,000-fold variation in affinity. Although co-stimulation by CD28, CD2, and CD27 increased cytokine production in this system, the antigen threshold remained comparable across different cytokines. When using primary human memory CD8+ T cells responding to autologous antigen presenting cells equivalent thresholds were also observed for cytokine production and killing. These findings imply a simple phenotypic model of TCR signalling where multiple T cell responses share a common rate-limiting threshold and a conceptually simple model of antigen recognition, where the chance factor of antigen dose and affinity do not provide any additional response-specific information.

Blood ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 97 (9) ◽  
pp. 2764-2771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth D. Harrison ◽  
Julie A. Adams ◽  
Mark Briggs ◽  
Michelle L. Brereton ◽  
John A. Liu Yin

Abstract Effective presentation of tumor antigens is fundamental to strategies aimed at enrolling the immune system in eradication of residual disease after conventional treatments. Myeloid malignancies provide a unique opportunity to derive dendritic cells (DCs), functioning antigen-presenting cells, from the malignant cells themselves. These may then co-express leukemic antigens together with appropriate secondary signals and be used to generate a specific, antileukemic immune response. In this study, blasts from 40 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were cultured with combinations of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukin 4, and tumor necrosis factor α, and development to DCs was assessed. After culture, cells from 24 samples exhibited morphological and immunophenotypic features of DCs, including expression of major histocompatibility complex class II, CD1a, CD83, and CD86, and were potent stimulators in an allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Stimulation of autologous T-cell responses was assessed by the proliferative response of autologous T cells to the leukemic DCs and by demonstration of the induction of specific, autologous, antileukemic cytotoxicity. Of 17 samples, 11 were effective stimulators in the autologous MLR, and low, but consistent, autologous, antileukemic cytotoxicity was induced in 8 of 11 cases (mean, 27%; range, 17%-37%). This study indicates that cells with enhanced antigen-presenting ability can be generated from AML blasts, that these cells can effectively prime autologous cytotoxic T cells in vitro, and that they may be used as potential vaccines in the immunotherapy of AML.


2003 ◽  
Vol 197 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroeki Sahara ◽  
Nilabh Shastri

CD4 T cells regulate immune responses that cause chronic graft rejection and graft versus host disease but their target antigens remain virtually unknown. We developed a new method to identify CD4 T cell–stimulating antigens. LacZ-inducible CD4 T cells were used as a probe to detect their cognate peptide/MHC II ligand generated in dendritic cells fed with Escherichia coli expressing a library of target cell genes. The murine H46 locus on chromosome 7 was thus found to encode the interleukin 4–induced IL4i1 gene. The IL4i1 precursor contains the HAFVEAIPELQGHV peptide which is presented by Ab major histocompatibility complex class II molecule via an endogenous pathway in professional antigen presenting cells. Both allelic peptides bind Ab and a single alanine to methionine substitution at p2 defines nonself. These results reveal novel features of H loci that regulate CD4 T cell responses as well as provide a general strategy for identifying elusive antigens that elicit CD4 T cell responses to tumors or self-tissues in autoimmunity.


1992 ◽  
Vol 175 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Bhardwaj ◽  
S M Friedman ◽  
B C Cole ◽  
A J Nisanian

Dendritic cells are a small subset of human blood mononuclear cells that are potent stimulators of several T cell functions. Here we show they are 10-50-fold more potent than monocytes or B cells in inducing T cell responses to a panel of superantigens. Furthermore, dendritic cells can present femtomolar concentrations of superantigen to T cells even at numbers where other antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are inactive. Although dendritic cells express very high levels of the major histocompatibility complex products that are required to present superantigens, it is only necessary to pulse these APCs for 1 hour with picomolar levels of one superantigen, staphylococcal enterotoxin B, to maximally activate T cells. Our results suggest that very small amounts of superantigen will be immunogenic in vivo if presented on dendritic cells.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 584-584
Author(s):  
Regina Gary ◽  
Simon Voelkl ◽  
Ralf Palmisano ◽  
Andreas Mackensen

Abstract Abstract 584 Specific T-cell responses are initiated by T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition of peptide-MHC-complexes on antigen presenting cells (APCs). Upon specific interaction of T cells with APCs T cells capture membrane fragments and surface molecules of APCs in a process termed trogocytosis. Exchange of membrane molecules/antigens between immune cells has been observed for a long time, but the mechanisms and functional consequences of these transfers remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that human antigen-specific CD8+ T cells do acquire the co-inhibitory molecule programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) from mature monocyte-derived dendritic cells (mDC) and tumor cells in an antigen-specific manner. The kinetics of PD-L1 transfer revealed a maximal PD-L1 expression on antigen-specific T cells within 3–4 hours after co-incubation with antigen-pulsed APCs, being detectable up to 72 hours. Antigen-pulsed immature DCs were less effective in transfering surface molecules such as PD-L1 onto CD8+ T cells after antigen-specific recognition. Using a transwell system we could show that the acquisition of PD-L1 requires cell-cell contact. Furthermore, PD-L1 cannot be acquired by T cells from a lysate of mDCs. The transfer process is impaired after pretreatment of T cells with concanamycin A, a specific inhibitor of vacuolar ATPases, playing an important role in membrane trafficking. Moreover, fixation of DCs with glutaraldehyde completely abrogated the acquisition of PD-L1 on T cells suggesting that an active interaction between APCs and T cells is required for trogocytosis. Of importance, CD8+ T cells which acquired PD-L1 complexes, were able to induce apoptosis of neighbouring PD-1 expressing CD8+ T cells, that could be completely blocked by an anti-PD-L1 antibody. In summary our data demonstrate for the first time that human antigen-specific CD8+ T cells take up functionally active PD-L1 from APCs in an antigen-specific fashion, leading to apoptosis of PD-1 expressing T cells. The transfer of functionally active co-inhibitory molecules from APCs onto human CD8+ T cells may serve to limit clonal expansion of antigen-specific T-cell responses but may also play a major role for T-cell exhaustion in chronic infection and tumor immunosurveillance. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 111 (7) ◽  
pp. 3546-3552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Schütz ◽  
Martin Fleck ◽  
Andreas Mackensen ◽  
Alessia Zoso ◽  
Dagmar Halbritter ◽  
...  

Abstract Several cell-based immunotherapy strategies have been developed to specifically modulate T cell–mediated immune responses. These methods frequently rely on the utilization of tolerogenic cell–based antigen-presenting cells (APCs). However, APCs are highly sensitive to cytotoxic T-cell responses, thus limiting their therapeutic capacity. Here, we describe a novel bead-based approach to modulate T-cell responses in an antigen-specific fashion. We have generated killer artificial APCs (κaAPCs) by coupling an apoptosis-inducing α-Fas (CD95) IgM mAb together with HLA-A2 Ig molecules onto beads. These κaAPCs deplete targeted antigen-specific T cells in a Fas/Fas ligand (FasL)–dependent fashion. T-cell depletion in cocultures is rapidly initiated (30 minutes), dependent on the amount of κaAPCs and independent of activation-induced cell death (AICD). κaAPCs represent a novel technology that can control T cell–mediated immune responses, and therefore has potential for use in treatment of autoimmune diseases and allograft rejection.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Trendel ◽  
Philipp Kruger ◽  
Stephanie Gaglione ◽  
John Nguyen ◽  
Johannes Pettmann ◽  
...  

AbstractMaintaining and limiting T cell responses to constant antigen stimulation is critical to control pathogens and maintain self-tolerance, respectively. Antigen recognition by T cell receptors (TCRs) induces signalling that activates T cells to produce cytokines and also leads to the downregulation of surface TCRs. In other systems, receptor downregulation can induce perfect adaptation to constant stimulation by a mechanism known as state-dependent inactivation that requires complete downregulation of the receptor or the ligand. However, this is not the case for the TCR, and therefore, precisely how TCR downregulation maintains or limits T cell responses is controversial. Here, we observed that in vitro expanded primary human T cells exhibit perfect adaptation in cytokine production to constant antigen stimulation across a 100,000-fold variation in affinity with partial TCR downregulation. By directly fitting a mechanistic model to the data, we show that TCR downregulation produces imperfect adaptation, but when coupled to a switch produces perfect adaptation in cytokine production. A pre-diction of the model is that pMHC-induced TCR signalling continues after adaptation and this is confirmed by showing that, while costimulation cannot prevent adaptation, CD28 and 4-1BB signalling reactivated adapted T cells to produce cytokines in a pMHC-dependent manner. We show that adaptation also applied to 1st generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells but is partially avoided in 2nd generation CARs. These findings high-light that even partial TCR downregulation can limit T cell responses by producing perfect adaptation rendering T cells dependent on costimulation for sustained responses.


2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (09) ◽  
pp. 640-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Milco D'Elios ◽  
Marisa Benagiano ◽  
Chiara Della Bella ◽  
Amedeo Amedei

T-cell responses are crucial for the outcome of any infection. The type of effector T-cell reaction is determined by a complex interaction of antigen-presenting cells with naive T cells and involves genetic and environmental factors, including the type of antigen, cytokines, chemokines, co-stimulatory molecules, and signalling cascades. The decision for the immune response to go in a certain direction is based not on one signal alone, but rather on many different elements acting both synergistically and antagonistically, and through feedback loops leading to activation or inhibition of T cells. In the course of evolution different types of T cells have developed, such as T helper 1 (Th1) cells, which protect against intracellular bacteria; Th2 cells, which play a role against parasites; and Th17 cells, which face extracellular bacteria and fungi


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnstein Norheim ◽  
Elisabeth Stubsrud ◽  
Lise Madelene Skullerud ◽  
Branislava Stankovic ◽  
Stalin Chellappa ◽  
...  

AbstractThe pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 2020 has led to a global public health emergency, and non-pharmaceutical interventions required to limit the viral spread are severely affecting health and economies across the world. A vaccine providing rapid and persistent protection across populations is urgently needed to prevent disease and transmission. We here describe the development of novel COVID-19 DNA plasmid vaccines encoding homodimers consisting of a targeting unit that binds chemokine receptors on antigen-presenting cells (human MIP-1α /LD78β), a dimerization unit (derived from the hinge and CH3 exons of human IgG3), and an antigenic unit (Spike or the receptor-binding domain (RBD) from SARS-CoV-2). The candidate encoding the longest RBD variant (VB2060) demonstrated high secretion of a functional protein and induced rapid and dose-dependent RBD IgG antibody responses that persisted up to at least 3 months after a single dose of the vaccine in mice. Neutralizing antibody (nAb) titers against the live virus were detected from day 7 after one dose. All tested dose regimens reached titers that were higher or comparable to those seen in sera from human convalescent COVID-19 patients from day 28. T cell responses were detected already at day 7, and were subsequently characterized to be multifunctional CD8+ and Th1 dominated CD4+ T cells. Responses remained at sustained high levels until at least 3 months after a single vaccination, being further strongly boosted by a second vaccination at day 89. These findings, together with the simplicity and scalability of plasmid DNA manufacturing, safety data on the vaccine platform in clinical trials, low cost of goods, data indicating potential long term storage at +2° to 8°C and simple administration, suggests the VB2060 candidate is a promising second generation candidate to prevent COVID-19.


MedChemComm ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youhui Si ◽  
Yi Wen ◽  
Jianjun Chen ◽  
Rebecca R. Pompano ◽  
Huifang Han ◽  
...  

Self-assembled peptide nanofiber vaccines trigger redundant MyD88-dependent and MyD88-independent signaling pathways in APCs and T cells.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 2391-2391
Author(s):  
Hongwei Wang ◽  
Aung Naing ◽  
Fengdong Cheng ◽  
Pedro Horna ◽  
Ildelfonso Suarez ◽  
...  

Abstract Professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) play an important role in the initiation of antigen-specific T-cell responses. The demonstration that these cells are also required for the induction of T-cell tolerance, placed APCs at the crossroads of immune activation versus immune tolerance. Recent studies have demonstrated that the inflammatory status of the APC at the time of antigen presentation is the central determinant of T-cell priming versus T-cell tolerance. As such, therapeutic induction of inflammatory APCs might override immune tolerance and enhance the efficacy of immunotherapeutic strategies targeting hematologic tumors. Lenalidomide (CC5013) is a thalidomide analogue with immunomodulatory properties. Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) have shown high frequency of erythropoietic responses, particularly in patients with 5q31 deletion associated with emergence of polyclonal lymphoid infiltrate in responding patient bone marrows. This observation raised the question as to whether immunological mechanism(s) may mediate, at least in part, the beneficial effect of CC5013 in patients with MDS. To gain further insight into the effects of Lenalidomide on APC’s function and regulation of antigen-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, we treated peritoneal elicited macrophages (PEM) and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) with escalating concentration of Lenalidomide in vitro. Enhanced expression of both B7.1 and B7.2 co-stimulatory molecules was observed in Lenalidomide-treated APCs relative to untreated APCs. No difference in the expression of MHC class II molecules or CD40 was detected. Assessment of cytokine production by ELISA showed that Lenalidomide-treated APCs produce higher levels of TNF-a, IL-6 and IL-10 in response to LPS stimulation as compared to untreated APCs. Next, we evaluated the ability of Lenalidomide-treated APCs to present cognate antigen to naïve and tolerant CD4+ T-cells specific for a MHC class II restricted epitope of influenza hemagglutinin (HA). We found that treatment of either PEM or DC with low doses of Lenalidomide (range: 1.5–12.5 uM) significantly enhanced their antigen-presenting capabilities leading to effective priming of naïve CD4+ T-cells confirmed by their increased production of IL-2 and IFN-gamma in response to cognate antigen. Taken together, our results shows that by inducing inflammatory APCs, Lenalidomide directs the outcome of antigen-specific T-cell responses. Furthermore, they have broadened the scope of this drug as a promising adjuvant in cancer immunotherapy.


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