scholarly journals Functional myeloid-derived suppressor cells expand in blood but not airways of COVID-19 patients and predict disease severity

Author(s):  
Sara Falck-Jones ◽  
Sindhu Vangeti ◽  
Meng Yu ◽  
Ryan Falck-Jones ◽  
Alberto Cagigi ◽  
...  

The immunopathology of COVID-19 remains enigmatic, exhibiting immunodysregulation and T cell lymphopenia. Monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSC) are T cell suppressors that expand in inflammatory conditions, but their role in acute respiratory infections remains unclear. We studied blood and airways of COVID-19 patients across disease severity at multiple timepoints. M-MDSC frequencies were elevated in blood but not in nasopharyngeal or endotracheal aspirates of COVID-19 patients compared to controls. M-MDSCs isolated from COVID-19 patients suppressed T cell proliferation and IFNγ production partly via an arginase-1 (Arg-1) dependent mechanism. Furthermore, patients showed increased Arg-1 and IL-6 plasma levels. COVID-19 patients had fewer T cells, and displayed downregulated expression of the CD3ζ chain. Ordinal regression showed that early M-MDSC frequency predicted subsequent disease severity. In conclusion, M-MDSCs expand in blood of COVID-19 patients, suppress T cells and strongly associate with disease severity, suggesting a role for M-MDSCs in the dysregulated COVID-19 immune response.

Blood ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 126 (23) ◽  
pp. 1012-1012
Author(s):  
Parvin Forghani ◽  
Edmund K Waller

Abstract Introduction: Myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (Myd 88) is an important adaptor molecule for the activation of NADPH oxidase and regulation of arginase-1, which are responsible for the suppressive function of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Blockade of Myd88 signaling induces antitumor effects in mice by skewing the immunosuppressive function of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. As the PD-L1/PD-1 axis has been characterized as a potent inhibitor of immune activation, particularly through inhibition of effector T cell function, we characterized the effect of Myd88 on checkpoint expression on tumor-infiltrating MDSC/T cells in a murine model melanoma. Methods: Pathogen-free 8-10-week-old WT(B6-background) and Myd 88−/− mice that been backcrossed to a C57BL/6 genetic background were challenged with 1 × 106 B16 (F1) tumor cells s.c. On day 14, mice were sacrificed and spleen and tumors were removed and digested into single-cell suspensions, blocked with anti-FcR mAbs and analyzed for surface and intracellular staining by flow cytometry. We analyzed CD11b+/Gr-1+hi/int myeloid cells subsets and T cells in the blood, spleen and tumors of mice by flow cytomery. Results: The growth of B16 melanoma tumor was significantly slower in Myd 88−/− mice compared with WT mice. No significant difference between two groups was found in the frequency of absolute number of MDSC subsets and expression of PDL1 check-point marker on spleen-derived MDSC subsets. In contrast CD4(+) and C8(+) T cells residing in spleens of Myd88(-/-) mice showed increased expression of TNF-α/IFN-α and GrZB compared with T cells from wild-type mice following short-term activation with PMA/iono. Of note, the frequencies and absolute numbers of infiltrating CD11b+/Gr1+ MDSC in tumor-bearing Myd 88−/− mice were lower than those in WT mice. Also we found that viable CD11b+/Gr1+ MDSC subsets from WT mice expressed higher level of PD-L1 compared with MDSCs from Myd 88−/− mice in concordance with the reduced expression of PD-1 on tumor infiltrating CD4+ T cells in Myd 88−/− mice. Collectively, the profile of PD-L1 and PD-1 expression in tumor microenvironments is favorably altered to enhance adaptive immune response in myd 88 KO vs WT mice harboring B16 melanoma. Conclusion: The results of this study provide further evidence that blocking Myd 88 signaling increases anti tumor immunity against melanoma, and that the enhanced immunity can be explained, in part, by reduction of expression PDL1/PD1 immune checkpoint molecules. Considering the importance of tumor-infiltrating MDSCs in regulating anti tumor immunity in the tumor microenvironment, our findings could provide insight into the design of new therapeutics targeting Myd 88. Further experiments are needed to show how alteration in profile of PDL1 checkpoint expression on MDSCs influences anti-tumor T cell responses. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Chuan Hsieh ◽  
Chien-Hui Hung ◽  
Meihua Chiang ◽  
Yu-Chin Tsai ◽  
Jie-Teng He

The tumor microenvironment, which consists of fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, immune cells, epithelial cells, and extracellular matrices, plays a crucial role in tumor progression. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), a class of unique liver stromal cells, participate in immunomodulatory activities by inducing the apoptosis of effector T-cells, generation of regulatory T-cells, and development of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) to achieve long-term survival of islet allografts. This study provides in vitro and in vivo evidences that HSCs induce the generation of MDSCs to promote hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression through interleukin (IL)-6 secretion. HSC-induced MDSCs highly expressed inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and arginase 1 mRNA and presented potent inhibitory T-cell immune responses in the tumor environment. Wild-type HSC-induced MDSCs expressed lower levels of CD40, CD86, and MHC II, and a higher level of B7-H1 surface molecules, as well as increased the production of iNOS and arginase I compared with MDSCs induced by IL-6-deficient HSCs in vitro. A murine-transplanted model of the liver tumor showed that HCCs cotransplanted with HSCs could significantly enhance the tumor area and detect more MDSCs compared with HCCs alone or HCCs cotransplanted with HSCs lacking IL-6. In conclusion, the results indicated that MDSCs are induced mainly by HSCs through IL-6 signaling and produce inhibitory enzymes to reduce T-cell immunity and then promote HCC progression within the tumor microenvironment. Therapies targeting the pathway involved in MDSC production or its immune-modulating pathways can serve as an alternative immunotherapy for HCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A536-A536
Author(s):  
Juan Dong ◽  
Cassandra Gilmore ◽  
Hieu Ta ◽  
Keman Zhang ◽  
Sarah Stone ◽  
...  

BackgroundV-domain immunoglobulin suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) is a B7 family inhibitory immune checkpoint protein and is highly expressed on myeloid cells and T cells.1 VISTA acts as both an inhibitory ligand when expressed on antigen-presenting cells and a receptor when expressed on T cells. Our recent study has shown that VISTA is a myeloid cell-specific immune checkpoint and that blocking VISTA can reprogram suppressive myeloid cells and promote a T cell-stimulatory tumor microenvironment.2 In this study, we further demonstrate that VISTA blockade directly alters the differentiation and the suppressive function of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC).MethodsFlow cytometry was performed to examine VISTA expression on MDSCs in multiple murine tumor models including the B16BL6 melanoma model, MC38 colon cancer model, and the KPC pancreatic cancer models. To examine the role of VISTA in controlling the differentiation and suppressive function of MDSCs, we cultured wild type (WT) and VISTA.KO bone marrow progenitor cells with GM-CSF and IL-6 to induce BM -derived MDSCs.ResultsOur preliminary results show that VISTA is highly expressed on M-MDSCs in B16BL6, MC38 and KPC tumors. In BM-derived MDSCs, VISTA deletion significantly altered the signaling pathways and the differentiation of MDSCs. Multiple inflammatory signaling pathways were downregulated in VISTA KO MDSCs, resulting in decreased production of cytokines such as IL1 and chemokines such as CCL2/4/9, as well as significantly impaired their ability to suppress the activation of CD8+ T cells. The loss of suppressive function in VISTA KO MDSCs is correlated with significantly reduced expression of iNOS. To validate the results from BM-MDSCs, we sorted CD11b+CD11c-Ly6C+Ly6G- M-MDSCs and CD11b+CD11c-Ly6G+ G-MDSCs from B16BL6 tumor tissues and tested the ability of a VISTA-blocking mAb to reverse the suppressive effects of tumor-derived MDSCs. Our results show that blocking VISTA impaired the suppressive function of tumor-derived M-MDSC but not G-MDSCs.ConclusionsTaken together, these results demonstrate a crucial role of VISTA in regulating the differentiation and function of MDSCs, and that blocking VISTA abolishes MDSC-mediated T cell suppression, thereby boosting.Ethics ApprovalAll in vivo studies were reviewed and approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Approval number 2019-2142).ReferencesXu W, Hire T, Malarkannan, S. et al. The structure, expression, and multifaceted role of immune-checkpoint protein VISTA as a critical regulator of anti-tumor immunity, autoimmunity, and inflammation. Cell Mol Immunol 2018;15:438–446.Xu W, Dong J, Zheng Y, et al. Immune-checkpoint protein VISTA regulates antitumor immunity by controlling myeloid cell-mediated inflammation and immunosuppression. Cancer Immunol Res 2019;7:1497–510.


2012 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1477-1490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiping Qin ◽  
Weiping Cai ◽  
Ting Pan ◽  
Kang Wu ◽  
Qiong Yang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTT lymphocyte dysfunction contributes to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease progression by impairing antivirus cellular immunity. However, the mechanisms of HIV-1 infection-mediated T cell dysfunction are not completely understood. Here, we provide evidence that expansion of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (M-MDSCs) suppressed T cell function in HIV-1-infected individuals. We observed a dramatic elevation of M-MDSCs (HLA-DR−/lowCD11b+CD33+/highCD14+CD15−cells) in the peripheral blood of HIV-1-seropositive subjects (n= 61) compared with healthy controls (n= 51), despite efficacious antiretroviral therapy for nearly 2 years. The elevated M-MDSC frequency in HIV-1+subjects correlated with prognostic HIV-1 disease markers, including the HIV-1 load (r= 0.5957;P< 0.0001), CD4+T cell loss (r= −0.5312;P< 0.0001), and activated T cells (r= 0.4421;P= 0.0004). Functional studies showed that M-MDSCs from HIV-1+subjects suppressed T cell responses in both HIV-1-specific and antigen-nonspecific manners; this effect was dependent on the induction of arginase 1 and required direct cell-cell contact. Further investigations revealed that direct HIV-1 infection or culture with HIV-1-derived Tat protein significantly enhanced human MDSC generationin vitro, and MDSCs from healthy donors could be directly infected by HIV-1 to facilitate HIV-1 replication and transmission, indicating that a positive-feedback loop between HIV-1 infection and MDSC expansion existed. In summary, our studies revealed a novel mechanism of T cell dysfunction in HIV-1-infected individuals and suggested that targeting MDSCs may be a promising strategy for HIV-1 immunotherapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Lamsfus Calle ◽  
Rolf Fendel ◽  
Anurag Singh ◽  
Thomas L. Richie ◽  
Stephen L. Hoffman ◽  
...  

Malaria can cause life-threatening complications which are often associated with inflammatory reactions. More subtle, but also contributing to the burden of disease are chronic, often subclinical infections, which result in conditions like anemia and immunologic hyporesponsiveness. Although very frequent, such infections are difficult to study in endemic regions because of interaction with concurrent infections and immune responses. In particular, knowledge about mechanisms of malaria-induced immunosuppression is scarce. We measured circulating immune cells by cytometry in healthy, malaria-naïve, adult volunteers undergoing controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) with a focus on potentially immunosuppressive cells. Infectious Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) sporozoites (SPZ) (PfSPZ Challenge) were inoculated during two independent studies to assess malaria vaccine efficacy. Volunteers were followed daily until parasites were detected in the circulation by RT-qPCR. This allowed us to analyze immune responses during pre-patency and at very low parasite densities in malaria-naïve healthy adults. We observed a consistent increase in circulating polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells (PMN-MDSC) in volunteers who developed P. falciparum blood stage parasitemia. The increase was independent of preceding vaccination with a pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine. PMN-MDSC were functional, they suppressed CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation as shown by ex-vivo co-cultivation with stimulated T cells. PMN-MDSC reduced T cell proliferation upon stimulation by about 50%. Interestingly, high circulating PMN-MDSC numbers were associated with lymphocytopenia. The number of circulating regulatory T cells (Treg) and monocytic MDSC (M-MDSC) showed no significant parasitemia-dependent variation. These results highlight PMN-MDSC in the peripheral circulation as an early indicator of infection during malaria. They suppress CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation in vitro. Their contribution to immunosuppression in vivo in subclinical and uncomplicated malaria will be the subject of further research. Pre-emptive antimalarial pre-treatment of vaccinees to reverse malaria-associated PMN-MDSC immunosuppression could improve vaccine response in exposed individuals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (479) ◽  
pp. eaaw5325
Author(s):  
Christian S. Hinrichs

Engineered NK cells kill myeloid-derived suppressor cells to aid CAR-T cell antitumor responses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 3196-3207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Agrati ◽  
Alessandra Sacchi ◽  
Veronica Bordoni ◽  
Eleonora Cimini ◽  
Stefania Notari ◽  
...  

Abstract SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a 3.4% mortality rate in patients with severe disease. The pathogenesis of severe cases remains unknown. We performed an in-depth prospective analysis of immune and inflammation markers in two patients with severe COVID-19 disease from presentation to convalescence. Peripheral blood from 18 SARS-CoV-2-infected patients, 9 with severe and 9 with mild COVID-19 disease, was obtained at admission and analyzed for T-cell activation profile, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and cytokine profiles. MDSC functionality was tested in vitro. In four severe and in four mild patients, a longitudinal analysis was performed daily from the day of admission to the early convalescent phase. Early after admission severe patients showed neutrophilia, lymphopenia, increase in effector T cells, a persisting higher expression of CD95 on T cells, higher serum concentration of IL-6 and TGF-β, and a cytotoxic profile of NK and T cells compared with mild patients, suggesting a highly engaged immune response. Massive expansion of MDSCs was observed, up to 90% of total circulating mononuclear cells in patients with severe disease, and up to 25% in the patients with mild disease; the frequency decreasing with recovery. MDSCs suppressed T-cell functions, dampening excessive immune response. MDSCs decline at convalescent phase was associated to a reduction in TGF-β and to an increase of inflammatory cytokines in plasma samples. Substantial expansion of suppressor cells is seen in patients with severe COVID-19. Further studies are required to define their roles in reducing the excessive activation/inflammation, protection, influencing disease progression, potential to serve as biomarkers of disease severity, and new targets for immune and host-directed therapeutic approaches.


Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 2779-2779
Author(s):  
Cesarina Giallongo ◽  
Nunziatina Parrinello ◽  
Daniele Tibullo ◽  
Piera La Cava ◽  
Alessandra Cupri ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 2779 Background: Tumor cells are able to develop immune evasion mechanisms which induce a state of immune tolerance and inactivate tumor-specific T cells. In this context, in some solid tumors it has been demonstrated that a subpopulation of myeloid cells, defined as “myeloid-derived suppressor cells” (MDSCs), plays an important role in inducing T cell tolerance by production of arginase that depletes microenvironment of arginine, an essential aminoacid for T cell function. Since chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients have high levels of immature myeloid cells it is of interest to investigate if these cells have MDSCs phenotype and activity. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze MDSCs and investigate their involvement in T-cell anergy of CML patients. Methods: MDSCs were analyzed in peripheral blood (PB) of 13 CML patients (at diagnosis and during therapy) and healthy donors (HD; n=20) by cytofluorimetric analysis (CD14+DR- for monocytic MDSCs and CD11b+CD33+CD14-DR- for granulocytic MDSCs). Arginase 1 expression was assessed in PB of HD and CML patient using real time PCR. Purification of granulocytes, monocytes and lymphocytes from PB was performed by a positive magnetic separation kit (EasySep, STEMCELL Technologies). Arginase activity was measured in granulocyte lysates using a colorimetric test after enzymatic activation and arginine hydrolysis. To evaluate the activation of CD3+ T lymphocytes after incubation with phytoemagglutinin, we analyzed at 24, 48, 72 h the following markers: CD69+, CD71+, DR+. Microvesicles were isolated from CML serum at diagnosis (n=5) by sequential ultracentrifugation. Results: CML patients showed high levels of monocytic and granulocytic MDSCs at diagnosis in comparison to HD (63±8 and 83±12,2% respectively in CML vs 4,9±2,1 and 55,8±5,3% respectively in HD; p<0.001) while after 3–6 months of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) therapy MDSC levels returned to normal values. Either in PB and in the purified granulocytes subpopulation, arginase1 expression showed a 30 fold increase in CML at diagnosis (CML vs HD: p<0.01) and decreased after therapy. We also evaluated arginase enzymatic activity in granulocytes and we found it increased in CML patients (n=4) compared to HD (n=5) (p<0.05). CML as well as HD T lymphocytes showed a normal activation in vitro which was significantly lost when they was incubated with CML serum (n=4). In addition, an increase of monocytic MDSCs in vitro was observed after incubation of HD monocytes with CML serum (39±6%; p<0.01) or microvescicles (9,2±1,2%; p<0.05) compared to control serum. Conclusions: Granulocytic and monocytic MDSCs are increased in CML patients at diagnosis and decrease during TKIs treatment. Their levels also correlates with Arginase 1 expression and enzymatic activity in granulocytes. CML serum as well as CML microvesicles increase the percentage of HD monocytic MDSCs. Moreover, CML serum leads to anergy of T lymphocytes, probably by Arginase 1 secretion. Disclosures: Off Label Use: Eltrombopag is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist indicated for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 5212-5212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zonghong Shao ◽  
Huijuan Jiang ◽  
Rong Fu

Abstract Objective To investigate the proportion and activation of myeloid- derived suppressor cells (MDSC) in bone marrow from patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Methods The proportion of MDSC (Lin-HLA-DR-CD33+) in bone marrow of 30 MDS patients and 19 normal controls were measured by flow cytometry assay(FCM). MDSC and CD8+ T cell were isolated from bone marrow of 14 MDS patients and 14 normal controls among them by FCM and microbeads. The expressions of arginase 1(ARG1) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were analyzed by qPCR and western bolting. Co-cultures with CD8+ T cell were proved the MDSC-mediated inhibition of CD8+ T cell. Results MDS patient’s median MDSC were 7.29% which was higher than that of controls (2.91%). The expression of ARG1 and iNOS mRNA in MDSC of high-risk MDS patients was higher than that of low-risk MDS patients. But the protein of ARG1 was overexpressed rather than that of iNOS. After co-cultured, the apoptosis ratio of CD8+ T cells of MDS((64.17±4.86) %) was increased compared to pure CD8+ T cells ( (54.58±9.95)%). Further more, the production of IFN-γsecreted by CD8+ T cells co-cultured with MDSC ((551.94±47.39) pg/ml)was lower than that of pure CD8+ T cells ((586.04±46.65) pg/ml) There was no significant difference in level of TNF-βbetween co-cultured with MDSC and pure CD8+ cells. Conclusion The proportion of MDSC in bone marrow was increased significantly in MDS. MDSC overexpressed ARG1 in patients with MDS and correlated to the malignant degree of this disease. Further more, MDSC can increased the apoptosis ratio of CD8+ T cell, and inhibited the secretion of IFN-γ. These findings suggested MDSC mediated the response of immunosuppression in MDS. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


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