scholarly journals Deficiency of the NOD-Like Receptor NLRC5 Results in Decreased CD8+ T Cell Function and Impaired Viral Clearance

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Lupfer ◽  
Kate L. Stokes ◽  
Teneema Kuriakose ◽  
Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti

ABSTRACT Pathogen recognition receptors are vital components of the immune system. Engagement of these receptors is important not only for instigation of innate immune responses to invading pathogens but also for initiating the adaptive immune response. Members of the NOD-like receptor (NLR) family of pathogen recognition receptors have important roles in orchestrating this response. The NLR family member NLRC5 regulates major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) expression during various types of infections, but its role in immunity to influenza A virus (IAV) is not well studied. Here we show that Nlrc5 −/− mice exhibit an altered CD8+ T cell response during IAV infection compared to that of wild-type (WT) mice. Nlrc5 −/− mice have decreased MHC-I expression on hematopoietic cells and fewer CD8+ T cells prior to infection. NLRC5 deficiency does not affect the generation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells following IAV infection; however, a change in epitope dominance is observed in Nlrc5 −/− mice. Moreover, IAV-specific CD8+ T cells from Nlrc5 −/− mice have impaired effector functions. This change in the adaptive immune response is associated with impaired viral clearance in Nlrc5 −/− mice. Collectively, our results demonstrate an important role for NLRC5 in regulation of antiviral immune responses and viral clearance during IAV infection. IMPORTANCE The NOD-like receptor family member NLRC5 is known to regulate expression of MHC-I as well as other genes required for antigen processing. In addition, NLRC5 also regulates various immune signaling pathways. In this study, we investigated the role of NLRC5 during influenza virus infection and found a major role for NLRC5 in restricting virus replication and promoting viral clearance. The observed increases in viral titers in NLRC5-deficient mice correlated with impaired effector CD8+ T cell responses. Although NLRC5-deficient mice were defective at clearing the virus, they did not show an increase in morbidity or mortality following influenza virus infection because of other compensatory immune mechanisms. Therefore, our study highlights how NLRC5 regulates multiple immune effector mechanisms to promote the host defense during influenza virus infection.

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (17) ◽  
pp. 7991-8004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony DiPiazza ◽  
Katherine Richards ◽  
Frances Batarse ◽  
Laura Lockard ◽  
Hui Zeng ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTInfluenza virus infections represent a significant socioeconomic and public health burden worldwide. Although ferrets are considered by many to be ideal for modeling human responses to influenza infection and vaccination, efforts to understand the cellular immune response have been severely hampered by a paucity of standardized procedures and reagents. In this study, we developed flow cytometric and T cell enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISpot) approaches to characterize the leukocyte composition and antigen-specific T cell response within key lymphoid tissues following influenza virus infection in ferrets. Through a newly designed and implemented set of serological reagents, we used multiparameter flow cytometry to directly quantify the frequency of CD4+and CD8+T cells, Ig+B cells, CD11b+myeloid-derived cells, and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-positive antigen-presenting cells (APCs) both prior to and after intranasal infection with A/California/04/09 (H1N1). We found that the leukocyte composition was altered at 10 days postinfection, with notable gains in the frequency of T cells and myeloid cells within the draining lymph node. Furthermore, these studies revealed that the antigen specificity of influenza virus-reactive CD4 and CD8 T cells was very broad, with recognition of the viral HA, NA, M1, NS1, and NP proteins, and that total reactivity to influenza virus postinfection represented approximately 0.1% of the circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Finally, we observed distinct patterns of reactivity between individual animals, suggesting heterogeneity at the MHC locus in ferrets within commercial populations, a finding of considerable interest in efforts to move the ferret model forward for influenza vaccine and challenge studies.IMPORTANCEFerrets are an ideal animal model to study transmission, diseases, and vaccine efficacies of respiratory viruses because of their close anatomical and physiological resemblances to humans. However, a lack of reagents has limited our understanding of the cell-mediated immune response following infection and vaccination. In this study, we used cross-reactive and ferret-specific antibodies to study the leukocyte composition and antigen-specific CD4 and CD8 T cell responses following influenza A/California/04/09 (H1N1) virus infection. These studies revealed strikingly distinct patterns of reactivity between CD4 and CD8 T cells, which were overlaid with differences in protein-specific responses between individual animals. Our results provide a first, in-depth look at the T cell repertoire in response to influenza infection and suggest that there is considerable heterogeneity at the MHC locus, which is akin to that in humans and an area of intense research interest.


2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (5) ◽  
pp. 987-997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kewei Fan ◽  
Yinping Jia ◽  
Song Wang ◽  
Hua Li ◽  
Defeng Wu ◽  
...  

Although the T-cell-mediated immune response to influenza virus has been studied extensively, little information is available on the direct interaction between influenza virus and T-cells that pertains to severe diseases in humans and animals. To address these issues, we utilized the BALB/c mouse model combined with primary T-cells infected with A/WSN/33 influenza virus to investigate whether influenza virus has an affinity for T-cells in vivo. We observed that small proportions of CD4+ T-cells and CD8+ T-cells in spleen and thymus expressed viral proteins in infected mice. A significant proportion of mouse primary T-cells displayed expression of α-2,6 sialic acid-linked influenza virus receptor and were infected directly by influenza A virus. These experiments reveal that there exists a population of T-cells that is susceptible to influenza A virus infection. Furthermore, we employed human Jurkat T-cells to investigate the virus–T-cell interaction, with particular emphasis on understanding whether Itk (interleukin-2-inducible T-cell kinase), a Tec family tyrosine kinase that regulates T-cell activation, is involved in virus infection of T-cells. Interestingly, influenza virus infection resulted in an increased recruitment of Itk to the plasma membrane and an increased level of phospholipase C-γ1 (PLC-γ1) phosphorylation, suggesting that Itk/PLC-γ1 signalling is activated by the virus infection. We demonstrated that depletion of Itk inhibited the replication of influenza A virus, whereas overexpression of Itk increased virus replication. These results indicate that Itk is required for efficient replication of influenza virus in infected T-cells.


2003 ◽  
Vol 198 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry R. Crowe ◽  
Stephen J. Turner ◽  
Shannon C. Miller ◽  
Alan D. Roberts ◽  
Rachel A. Rappolo ◽  
...  

The specificity of CD8+ T cell responses can vary dramatically between primary and secondary infections. For example, NP366–374/Db- and PA224–233/Db-specific CD8+ T cells respond in approximately equal numbers to a primary influenza virus infection in C57BL/6 mice, whereas NP366–374/Db-specific CD8+ T cells dominate the secondary response. To investigate the mechanisms underlying this changing pattern of immunodominance, we analyzed the role of antigen presentation in regulating the specificity of the T cell response. The data show that both dendritic and nondendritic cells are able to present the NP366–374/Db epitope, whereas only dendritic cells effectively present the PA224–233/Db epitope after influenza virus infection, both in vitro and in vivo. This difference in epitope expression favored the activation and expansion of NP366–374/Db-specific CD8+ memory T cells during secondary infection. The data also show that the immune response to influenza virus infection may involve T cells specific for epitopes, such as PA224–233/Db, that are poorly expressed at the site of infection. In this regard, vaccination with the PA224–233 peptide actually had a detrimental effect on the clearance of a subsequent influenza virus infection. Thus, differential antigen presentation impacts both the specificity of the T cell response and the efficacy of peptide-based vaccination strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajitanuj Rattan ◽  
Katherine A. Richards ◽  
Zackery A. G. Knowlden ◽  
Andrea J. Sant

ABSTRACT Vaccination is widely used to generate protective immunity against influenza virus. CD4+ T cells contribute in diverse ways to protective immunity, most notably, in the provision of help for the production of neutralizing antibodies. Several recent reports have suggested that influenza virus infection elicits CD4+ T cells whose specificity only partially overlaps that of T cells elicited by vaccination. This finding has raised serious concerns regarding the utility of currently licensed inactivated influenza virus vaccines and novel protein-based vaccines. Here, using controlled animal models that allowed a broad sampling of the CD4+ T cell repertoire, we evaluated protein vaccine- versus infection-generated CD4+ T cell epitopes. Our studies revealed that all the infection-elicited CD4+ T cell epitope specificities are also elicited by protein vaccination, although the immunodominance hierarchies can differ. Finally, using a reverse-engineered influenza virus and a heterologous protein vaccination and infection challenge strategy, we show that protein vaccine-elicited CD4+ memory T cells are recalled and boosted after infection and provide early help to accelerate hemagglutinin (HA)-specific antibody responses. The early CD4+ T cell response and HA-specific antibody production are associated with lowered viral titers during the infection challenge. Our data lend confidence to the ability of current protein-based vaccines to elicit influenza virus-specific CD4+ T cells that can potentiate protective immunity upon influenza virus infection. IMPORTANCE Most current and new influenza vaccine candidates consist of a single influenza virus protein or combinations of influenza virus proteins. For these vaccines to elicit CD4+ T cells that can be recalled after infection, the peptide epitopes should be shared between the two modes of confrontation. Recently, questions regarding the relatedness of epitope selection by influenza virus infection and protein vaccination have been raised. However, the studies reported here show that the specificity of CD4+ T cells elicited by protein-based vaccines overlaps that of T cells elicited by infection and that CD4+ T cells primed by protein vaccines are recalled and contribute to protection of the host from a future infection.


2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (7) ◽  
pp. 1451-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M. Fox ◽  
Leo K. Sage ◽  
Lei Huang ◽  
James Barber ◽  
Kimberly D. Klonowski ◽  
...  

Influenza infection induces an increase in the level of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity in the lung parenchyma. IDO is the first and rate-limiting step in the kynurenine pathway where tryptophan is reduced to kynurenine and other metabolites. The depletion of tryptophan, and production of associated metabolites, attenuates the immune response to infection. The impact of IDO on the primary immune response to influenza virus infection was determined using the IDO inhibitor 1-methyl-d,l-tryptophan (1MT). C57BL/6 mice treated with 1MT and infected with A/HKx31 influenza virus had increased numbers of activated and functional CD4+ T-cells, influenza-specific CD8+ T-cells and effector memory cells in the lung. Inhibition of IDO increased the Th1 response in CD4+ T-cells as well as enhanced the Th17 response. These studies show that inhibition of IDO engenders a more robust T-cell response to influenza virus, and suggests an approach for enhancing the immune response to influenza vaccination by facilitating increased influenza-specific T-cell response.


2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (20) ◽  
pp. 9364-9382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie C. Talker ◽  
Maria Stadler ◽  
Hanna C. Koinig ◽  
Kerstin H. Mair ◽  
Irene M. Rodríguez-Gómez ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPigs are natural hosts for influenza A viruses and play a critical role in influenza epidemiology. However, little is known about their influenza-evoked T-cell response. We performed a thorough analysis of both the local and systemic T-cell response in influenza virus-infected pigs, addressing kinetics and phenotype as well as multifunctionality (gamma interferon [IFN-γ], tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], and interleukin-2 [IL-2]) and cross-reactivity. A total of 31 pigs were intratracheally infected with an H1N2 swine influenza A virus (FLUAVsw) and consecutively euthanized. Lungs, tracheobronchial lymph nodes, and blood were sampled during the first 15 days postinfection (p.i.) and at 6 weeks p.i.Ex vivoflow cytometry of lung lymphocytes revealed an increase in proliferating (Ki-67+) CD8+T cells with an early effector phenotype (perforin+CD27+) at day 6 p.i. Low frequencies of influenza virus-specific IFN-γ-producing CD4+and CD8+T cells could be detected in the lung as early as 4 days p.i. On consecutive days, influenza virus-specific CD4+and CD8+T cells produced mainly IFN-γ and/or TNF-α, reaching peak frequencies around day 9 p.i., which were up to 30-fold higher in the lung than in tracheobronchial lymph nodes or blood. At 6 weeks p.i., CD4+and CD8+memory T cells had accumulated in lung tissue. These cells showed diverse cytokine profiles andin vitroreactivity against heterologous influenza virus strains, all of which supports their potential to combat heterologous influenza virus infections in pigs.IMPORTANCEPigs not only are a suitable large-animal model for human influenza virus infection and vaccine development but also play a central role in the emergence of new pandemic strains. Although promising candidate universal vaccines are tested in pigs and local T cells are the major correlate of heterologous control, detailed and targeted analyses of T-cell responses at the site of infection are scarce. With the present study, we provide the first detailed characterization of magnitude, kinetics, and phenotype of specific T cells recruited to the lungs of influenza virus-infected pigs, and we could demonstrate multifunctionality, cross-reactivity, and memory formation of these cells. This, and ensuing work in the pig, will strengthen the position of this species as a large-animal model for human influenza virus infection and will immediately benefit vaccine development for improved control of influenza virus infections in pigs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 207 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodi McGill ◽  
Nico Van Rooijen ◽  
Kevin L. Legge

We have recently demonstrated that peripheral CD8 T cells require two separate activation hits to accumulate to high numbers in the lungs after influenza virus infection: a primary interaction with mature, antigen-bearing dendritic cells (DCs) in the lymph node, and a second, previously unrecognized interaction with MHC I–viral antigen–bearing pulmonary DCs in the lungs. We demonstrate that in the absence of lung-resident DC subsets, virus-specific CD8 T cells undergo significantly increased levels of apoptosis in the lungs; however, reconstitution with pulmonary plasmacytoid DCs and CD8α+ DCs promotes increased T cell survival and accumulation in the lungs. Further, our results show that the absence of DCs after influenza virus infection results in significantly reduced levels of IL-15 in the lungs and that pulmonary DC–mediated rescue of virus-specific CD8 T cell responses in the lungs requires trans-presentation of IL-15 via DC-expressed IL-15Rα. This study demonstrates a key, novel requirement for DC trans-presented IL-15 in promoting effector CD8 T cell survival in the respiratory tract after virus infection, and suggests that this trans-presentation could be an important target for the development of unique antiviral therapies and more effective vaccine strategies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. e1005508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Philip Nobs ◽  
Christoph Schneider ◽  
Alex Kaspar Heer ◽  
Jatta Huotari ◽  
Ari Helenius ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma C Reilly ◽  
Kris Lambert Emo ◽  
Patrick M Buckley ◽  
Nicholas S Reilly ◽  
Francisco A Chaves ◽  
...  

AbstractTissue resident memory CD8 T (TRM) cells are a unique immune memory subset that develops and remains in peripheral tissues at the site of infection, providing future host resistance upon re-exposure to that pathogen. In the pulmonary system, TRM are identified through S1P antagonist CD69 and expression of integrins CD103/β7 and CD49a/CD29(β1). Contrary to the established role of CD69 on CD8 T cells, the functions of CD103 and CD49a on this population are not well defined. This study examines the expression patterns and functions of CD103 and CD49a with a specific focus on their impact on T cell motility during influenza virus infection. We show that the TRM cell surface phenotype develops by two-weeks post-infection and that each integrin contributes a distinct function regulating CD8 T cell motility both in vitro and in vivo, with CD49a facilitating migration and CD103 limiting motility through tethering. These results demonstrate for the first time how CD103 and CD49a differentially impact adherence and migration in the tissue, likely affecting overall retention, maintenance of TRM, and host protection.Significance StatementCurrent influenza vaccination strategies require annual immunizations, with fairly low efficacy rates. One technique to improve protection against a greater breadth of influenza viruses is to elicit broadly cross-reactive cell-mediated immunity and generate a local population of cytotoxic T cells to respond to conserved regions of circulating viruses. However, this approach requires improved understanding of how these cells migrate within and attach to the tissue, in order to persist and offer long-term immunity. This study investigates how receptors on the T cell surface impact the cell’s ability to interact with the tissue and provide evidence for which of these receptors are essential for protection. Furthermore, these studies reveal functional in vivo mechanisms of cellular markers used to characterize TRM.


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