scholarly journals Enumeration and Functional Evaluation of Virus-Specific CD4+ and CD8+ T Cells in Lymphoid and Peripheral Sites of Coxsackievirus B3 Infection

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (9) ◽  
pp. 4331-4342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. Kemball ◽  
Stephanie Harkins ◽  
J. Lindsay Whitton

ABSTRACT Previous studies have suggested that coxsackievirus B (CVB) activates CD8+ T cells in vivo, but the extent of this activation and the antigen specificity of the CD8+ T cells remain uncertain. Furthermore, CVB-induced CD4+ T-cell responses have not been carefully investigated. Herein, we evaluate CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses both in a secondary lymphoid organ (spleen) and in peripheral tissues (heart and pancreas), using a recombinant CVB3 (rCVB3.6) that encodes well-characterized CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell epitopes. Despite reaching high levels in vivo, rCVB3.6 failed to trigger a marked expansion of CD8+ or CD4+ T cells, and T-cell activation was surprisingly limited. Furthermore, epitope-specific effector functions could not be detected using highly sensitive in vivo and ex vivo assays. Moreover, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I tetramer analysis indicated that our inability to detect CVB3-specific CD8+ T-cell responses could not be explained by the cells being dysfunctional. In contrast to naïve T cells, epitope-specific memory CD8+ and CD4+ T cells proliferated markedly, indicating that both of the rCVB3.6-encoded epitopes were presented by their respective MHC molecules in vivo. These data are consistent with the observation that several CVB3 proteins can limit the presentation of viral epitopes on the surface of infected cells and suggest that the level of MHC/peptide complex is sufficient to trigger memory but not naïve T cells. Finally, our findings have implications for the biological significance of cross-priming, a process thought by some to be important for the induction of antiviral CD8+ T-cell responses.

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catriona T Prendergast ◽  
Agapitos Patakas ◽  
Shaima Al-Khabouri ◽  
Claire L McIntyre ◽  
Iain B McInnes ◽  
...  

ObjectivesSuccessful early intervention in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with the aim of resetting immunological tolerance requires a clearer understanding of how specificity, cellular kinetics and spatial behaviour shape the evolution of articular T cell responses. We aimed to define initial seeding of articular CD4+ T cell responses in early experimental arthritis, evaluating their dynamic behaviour and interactions with dendritic cells (DCs) in the inflamed articular environment.MethodsAntigen-induced arthritis was used to model articular inflammation. Flow cytometry and PCR of T cell receptor (TCR) diversity genes allowed phenotypic analysis of infiltrating T cells. The dynamic interactions of T cells with joint residing DCs were visualised using intravital multiphoton microscopy.ResultsInitial recruitment of antigen-specific T cells into the joint was paralleled by accumulation of CD4+ T cells with diverse antigen-receptor expression and ability to produce tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and interferon gamma (IFNγ) on mitogenic restimulation. A proportion of this infiltrate demonstrated slower motility speeds and engaged for longer periods with articular DCs in vivo. Abatacept treatment did not disrupt these interactions but did reduce T cell expression of inducible costimulatory (ICOS) molecule. We also demonstrated that non-specific CD4+ T cells could be recruited during these early articular events.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that CD4+ T cells engage with articular DCs supporting antigen specific T cell reactivation. This cellular dialogue can be targeted therapeutically to reduce local T cell activation.


1994 ◽  
Vol 179 (3) ◽  
pp. 809-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Ronchese ◽  
B Hausmann ◽  
S Hubele ◽  
P Lane

CD4+ T cell responses were analyzed in transgenic mice expressing a soluble form of murine CTLA-4, mCTLA4-H gamma 1, which blocks the interaction of the T cell activation molecules CD28 and CTLA-4 with their costimulatory ligands. Consistent with previous reports (Linsley, P. S., P. M. Wallace, J. Johnson, M. G. Gibson, J. L. Greene, J. A. Ledbetter, C. Singh, and M. A. Tepper. 1992. Science (Wash. DC). 257:792), T cell-dependent antibody production was profoundly inhibited in mCTLA4-H gamma 1 transgenic mice immunized with a protein antigen. Surprisingly, however, transgenic mice could generate quantitatively and qualitatively normal primary T cell responses, as measured by limiting dilution assays and lymphokine production. In addition, in vivo expansion of antigen-specific T cells after secondary or tertiary immunization was enhanced in mCTLA4-H gamma 1 transgenics as compared with normal mice. Although unable to deliver cognate help to B cells in vivo, T cells from mCTLA4-H gamma 1 transgenic mice were not anergic as they could help B cells to produce specific antibodies when adoptively transferred into nude hosts. Taken together, these data suggest that the engagement of CD28 and/or CTLA-4 may not be required for the induction of T cell responses, as is currently understood, but rather for the expression of T cell effector function such as the delivery of T cell help to B cells.


Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 113 (23) ◽  
pp. 5793-5800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Saini ◽  
Claire Pearson ◽  
Benedict Seddon

Abstract Interleukin-7 (IL-7) plays a central role in the homeostasis of the T-cell compartment by regulating T-cell survival and proliferation. Whether IL-7 can influence T-cell receptor (TCR) signaling in T cells remains controversial. Here, using IL-7–deficient hosts and TCR-transgenic T cells that conditionally express IL-7R, we examined antigen-specific T-cell responses in vitro and in vivo to viral infection and lymphopenia to determine whether IL-7 signaling influences TCR-triggered cell division events. In vitro, we could find no evidence that IL-7 signaling could costimulate T-cell activation over a broad range of conditions, suggesting that IL-7 does not directly tune TCR signaling. In vivo, however, we found an acute requirement for IL-7 signaling for efficiently triggering T-cell responses to influenza A virus challenge. Furthermore, we found that IL-7 was required for the enhanced homeostatic TCR signaling that drives lymphopenia-induced proliferation by a mechanism involving efficient contacts of T cells with dendritic cells. Consistent with this, saturating antigen-presenting capacity in vivo overcame the triggering defect in response to cognate peptide. Thus, we demonstrate a novel role for IL-7 in regulating T cell–dendritic cell interactions that is essential for both T-cell homeostasis and activation in vivo.


2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (8) ◽  
pp. 3943-3951 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Suresh ◽  
Gibson Lanier ◽  
Mary Katherine Large ◽  
Jason K. Whitmire ◽  
John D. Altman ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The importance of lymphotoxin α (LTα) in lymphoid organogenesis is well established. Although LTα has been implicated in the pathogenesis of T-cell-mediated immunopathologies, the requirement for LTα in T-cell activation and effector function in vivo is not well understood. To determine the role of LTα in T-cell activation in vivo, we compared the generation of antigen-specific T-cell responses between wild type (+/+) and LTα-deficient (LTα−/−) mice during an acute infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Our studies showed that LCMV-infected LTα−/− mice had a profound impairment in the activation and expansion of virus-specific CD8 T cells in the spleen, as determined by cytotoxicity assays, intracellular staining for gamma interferon, and staining with major histocompatibility complex class I tetramers. Further, the nonlymphoid organs of LTα−/− mice also contained substantially lower number of LCMV-specific CD8 T cells than those of +/+ mice. Greatly reduced virus-specific CD8 T-cell responses in LTα−/− mice led to a defect in LCMV clearance from the tissues. In comparison to that in +/+ mice, the activation of LCMV-specific CD4 T cells was also significantly attenuated in LTα−/− mice. Adoptive transfer experiments were conducted to determine if abnormal lymphoid architecture in LTα−/− mice caused the impairment in the activation of LCMV-specific T-cell responses. Upon adoptive transfer into +/+ mice, the activation and expansion of LCMV-specific LTα−/− T cells were restored to levels comparable to those of +/+ T cells. In a reciprocal cell transfer experiment, activation of +/+ T cells was significantly reduced upon transfer into LTα−/− mice. These results showed that impairment in the activation of LCMV-specific T cells in LTα−/− mice may be due to abnormal lymphoid architecture and not to an intrinsic defect in LTα−/− T cells.


Author(s):  
Kara S Cox ◽  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Daniel C Freed ◽  
Aimin Tang ◽  
Shifang Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cytomegalovirus (CMV) can cause congenital infection and is the leading cause of nongenetic newborn disabilities. V160, a conditionally replication-defective virus, is an investigational vaccine under evaluation for prevention of congenital CMV. The vaccine was well tolerated and induced both humoral and cellular immunity in CMV-seronegative trial participants. T-cell–mediated immunity is important for immune control of CMV. Here we describe efforts to understand the quality attributes of the T-cell responses induced by vaccination. Methods Using multicolor flow cytometry, we analyzed vaccine-induced T cells for memory phenotype, antigen specificity, cytokine profiles, and cytolytic potential. Moreover, antigen-specific T cells were sorted from 4 participants, and next-generation sequencing was used to trace clonal lineage development during the course of vaccination using T-cell receptor β-chain sequences as identifiers. Results The results demonstrated that vaccination elicited polyfunctional CD4 and CD8 T cells to 2 dominant antigens, pp65 and IE1, with a predominantly effector phenotype. Analysis of T-cell receptor repertoires showed polyclonal expansion of pp65- and IE1-specific T cells after vaccination. Conclusion V160 induced a genetically diverse and polyfunctional T-cell response and the data support further clinical development of V160 for prevention of CMV infection and congenital transmission. Clinical Trials Registration NCT01986010.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Estrada ◽  
Didem Agac Cobanoglu ◽  
Aaron Wise ◽  
Robert Maples ◽  
Murat Can Cobanoglu ◽  
...  

Viral infections drive the expansion and differentiation of responding CD8+ T cells into variegated populations of cytolytic effector and memory cells. While pro-inflammatory cytokines and cell surface immune receptors play a key role in guiding T cell responses to infection, T cells are also markedly influenced by neurotransmitters. Norepinephrine is a key sympathetic neurotransmitter, which acts to suppress CD8 + T cell cytokine secretion and lytic activity by signaling through the beta2-adrenergic receptor (ADRB2). Although ADRB2 signaling is considered generally immunosuppressive, its role in regulating differentiation of effector T cells in response to infection has not been investigated. Using an adoptive transfer approach, we compared the expansion and differentiation of wild type (WT) to Adrb2-/- CD8 + T cells throughout the primary response to vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection in vivo. We measured the dynamic changes in transcriptome profiles of antigen-specific CD8 + T cells as they responded to VSV. Within the first 7 days of infection, WT cells out-paced the expansion of Adrb2-/- cells, which correlated with reduced expression of IL-2 and the IL-2Ralpha; in the absence of ADRB2. RNASeq analysis identified over 300 differentially expressed genes that were both temporally regulated following infection and selectively regulated in WT vs Adrb2-/- cells. These genes contributed to major transcriptional pathways including cytokine receptor activation, signaling in cancer, immune deficiency, and neurotransmitter pathways. By parsing genes within groups that were either induced or repressed over time in response to infection, we identified three main branches of genes that were differentially regulated by the ADRB2. These gene sets were predicted to be regulated by specific transcription factors involved in effector T cell development, such as Tbx21 and Eomes. Collectively, these data demonstrate a significant role for ADRB2 signaling in regulating key transcriptional pathways during CD8 + T cells responses to infection that may dramatically impact their functional capabilities and downstream memory cell development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalila Mele ◽  
Anna Calastri ◽  
Eugenia Maiorano ◽  
Antonella Cerino ◽  
Michele Sachs ◽  
...  

Olfactory and taste disorders (OTD) are commonly found as presenting symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with clinically mild COVID-19. Virus-specific T cells are thought to play an important role in the clearance of SARS-CoV-2; therefore the study of T cell specific immune responses in patients with mild symptoms may help to understand their possible role in protection from severe disease. We evaluated SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses to four different peptide megapools covering all SARS-CoV-2 proteins during the acute phase of the disease in 33 individuals with mild or no other symptom beside OTD and in 22 age-matched patients with severe infection. A control group of 15 outpatients with OTD and consistently negative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 RNA swabs and virus-specific IgG serology was included in the study. Increased frequencies of virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were found in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with OTD compared with those with severe COVID-19 and with SARS-CoV-2 negative OTD individuals. Moreover, enhanced CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell activation induced by SARS-CoV-2 peptides was associated with higher interferon (IFN)γ production. Increased frequencies of Spike (S1/S2)-specific CD4+ T cells showing enhanced IFNγ secretion and granzyme B content were associated with serum spike-specific IgG in the OTD group. In conclusion, patients with SARS-CoV-2 induced OTD develop highly functional virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during the symptomatic phase of the disease, suggesting that robust and coordinated T-cell responses provide protection against extension of COVID-19 to the lower respiratory tract.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna von Rossum ◽  
Winnie Enns ◽  
Yu P Shi ◽  
Jonathan C Choy

Transplant vasculopathy (TV) is an arteriosclerotic disease characterized by intimal thickening of allograft arteries and is a leading cause of heart transplant rejection. T cell responses towards allograft arteries are responsible for the development of TV and understanding the regulatory pathways controlling T cell activation in allograft arteries provides opportunities for the therapeutic attenuation of TV as well as other arteriosclerotic diseases. Bim is a pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein known to down-regulate immune responses after viral infections by inducing cell death of effector T cells but its role in regulating allogeneic T cell responses is not known. We compared cell death and alloantigen-driven activation of T cells from Bim +/+ (wild-type), Bim +/- and Bim -/- mice as well as the development of TV in these mice. Bim was required for cell death of both CD4 and CD8 T cells in response to cytokine deprivation in vitro . Unexpectedly, Bim was also required for alloantigen-induced proliferation of both CD4 and CD8 T cells as well as for IL-2 production. When TV was examined in aortic interposition grafts implanted into complete major histocompatibility complex-mismatched mice, intimal thickening was significantly reduced in Bim +/- but not Bim -/- recipients as compared to Bim +/+ counterparts. There was signficantly less CD4 T cell accumulation in the intima of arteries from Bim +/- as compared to Bim +/+ recipients but this effect was not observed in Bim -/- recipients. The accumulation of CD8 T cells in allograft arteries was not affected by differences in Bim expression. Taken together, our data support a novel role for Bim in driving T cell activation in response to allogeneic stimuli and indicate that the effects of this Bcl-2 protein in the pathogenesis of TV likely depends on its dual role in supporting T cell activation and death.


2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Sauermann ◽  
Antonia Radaelli ◽  
Nicole Stolte-Leeb ◽  
Katharina Raue ◽  
Massimiliano Bissa ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT An effective AIDS vaccine should elicit strong humoral and cellular immune responses while maintaining low levels of CD4+ T-cell activation to avoid the generation of target cells for viral infection. The present study investigated two prime-boost regimens, both starting vaccination with single-cycle immunodeficiency virus, followed by two mucosal boosts with either recombinant adenovirus (rAd) or fowlpox virus (rFWPV) expressing SIVmac239 or SIVmac251 gag/pol and env genes, respectively. Finally, vectors were switched and systemically administered to the reciprocal group of animals. Only mucosal rFWPV immunizations followed by systemic rAd boost significantly protected animals against a repeated low-dose intrarectal challenge with pathogenic SIVmac251, resulting in a vaccine efficacy (i.e., risk reduction per exposure) of 68%. Delayed viral acquisition was associated with higher levels of activated CD8+ T cells and Gag-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-secreting CD8+ cells, low virus-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, and low Env antibody titers. In contrast, the systemic rFWPV boost induced strong virus-specific CD4+ T-cell activity. rAd and rFWPV also induced differential patterns of the innate immune responses, thereby possibly shaping the specific immunity. Plasma CXCL10 levels after final immunization correlated directly with virus-specific CD4+ T-cell responses and inversely with the number of exposures to infection. Also, the percentage of activated CD69+ CD8+ T cells correlated with the number of exposures to infection. Differential stimulation of the immune response likely provided the basis for the diverging levels of protection afforded by the vaccine regimen. IMPORTANCE A failed phase II AIDS vaccine trial led to the hypothesis that CD4+ T-cell activation can abrogate any potentially protective effects delivered by vaccination or promote acquisition of the virus because CD4+ T helper cells, required for an effective immune response, also represent the target cells for viral infection. We compared two vaccination protocols that elicited similar levels of Gag-specific immune responses in rhesus macaques. Only the animal group that had a low level of virus-specific CD4+ T cells in combination with high levels of activated CD8+ T cells was significantly protected from infection. Notably, protection was achieved despite the lack of appreciable Env antibody titers. Moreover, we show that both the vector and the route of immunization affected the level of CD4+ T-cell responses. Thus, mucosal immunization with FWPV-based vaccines should be considered a potent prime in prime-boost vaccination protocols.


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