scholarly journals Expansion of T Helper Cell Subsets in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Cell Co-Cultures with Nurselike Cells

Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 1746-1746
Author(s):  
Alicia Vaca ◽  
Mariela Sivina ◽  
Karen Clise-Dwyer ◽  
Ekaterina Kim ◽  
Michael J Keating ◽  
...  

Background: In secondary lymphatic organs (SLO), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells form characteristic pseudo-follicles, also called proliferation centers, in which proliferating CLL cells are in intimate contact with CD4+ T helper cells. Despite evidence for a co-evolution of CLL cells and counterpart T helper cells, the prevalence and dynamics of T cell subsets, such as T follicular helper cells (TFH), T regulatory helper cells (TRegs) and IL-17-producing T helper cells (Th17) has not been characterized in detail. The CLL nurselike cell (NLC) model recapitulates key cellular and molecular interactions between CLL cells and the microenvironment in SLO, based on functional and gene expression studies, and represents a valid in vitro model for the SLO microenvironment in CLL. To gain insight into the potential role of T cells in CLL SLO, we utilized the NLC model to characterize T helper cell subsets and their dynamics in NLC co-cultures. Methods and Results: First, we quantified CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets in fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples from 14 patients and then placed 1x107 PBMCs/ml in culture to establish NLC. We rechecked the relative proportion of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as absolute T cell counts, and their viability after 3, 6, 9, 12 and 14 days in NLC co-culture conditions. Interestingly, throughout the 14 days of culture, the number of T helper cells remained stable when compared to baseline samples. Next, we characterized T helper cell subsets in 25 different CLL samples, comparing CD4+ T cell subsets in freshly isolated CLL PBMC with matched samples harvested after 14 days of NLC culture. Samples were stained with subset-specific fluorescence-labeled antibody combinations, and analyzed by flow cytometry. NLC co-culture resulted in a significant expansion of TFH and TReg cells. TFH absolute cell counts assessed by flow cytometry using counting beads, increased from 9.4±2.2/μl at baseline to 29.0±5.9/μl in NLC co-cultures (n=14, p=0.001) and TReg from 17.0±3.3/μl to 51.0±15.0/μl (n=14, p=0.027). In contrast, Th17 absolute cell counts declined after 14 days of culture from 113.0±21.0/μl to 68.0±13.0/μl (n=14, p=0.001). Moreover, TH2 cells declined from 42.0±7.4/μl to 30.0±8.2/μl (n=14, p=0.005). Next, we analyzed for changes in TFH subsets (TFH1, TFH2 and TFH17). When compared to TFH cells from CLL PBMC, NLC culture resulted in a relative increase in TFH2 from 17.0±2.4% to 26.0±1.7% (n=25, p=0.013), and in TFH17 from 12.0±1.6% to 21.0±2.7% (n=25, p=0.006) In contrast, TFH1 frequency decreased after 14 days of culture (54.0±3.5% versus 34.0±2.9%, n=25, p=0.001). T follicular regulatory (TFr) cells also increase under co-culture conditions from undetectable to 4.8±1.9% (n=25, p=0.025)(Figure1). Looking at the maturity of CD4+ cells we noted a relative increase of central memory cells from 42.0±3.2% to 50.0±3.2% (n=25, p=0.023), whereas effector memory cells decreased from 34.0±3.4% to 26.0±2.7% (n=25, p=0.009), the fraction of naïve CD4+ cells remained unchanged. Next, we assessed the activation status of co-inhibitory receptors on CD3+CD4+ cells. We found a significant relative increase in CD4+ T cells expressing PD1 and CTLA-4 after 14 days of culture. Additionally, the TFH and TReg subsets demonstrated a significantly higher CTLA-4 expression after culture while TReg cells also addressed an increase in PD1 frequency. Furthermore, we observed a significantly higher CD28 expression on TFH and TReg subsets after 14 days of co-culture. Following, to address the residence and migration capacity of T cells in NLC co-cultures, we analyzed the CD69 and CD62L expression. Our results revealed significantly higher expression of CD69 in NLC co-cultures, whereas CD62L levels remained unchanged. Conclusion: The expansion of TFH and TReg cells in NLC co-cultures suggests the selection and clonal expansion of T cells that may support and engage in crosstalk with CLL cells. Additionally, the expansion of TFr and TFH17 cells could reflect a milieu of immune tolerance establishing in NLC co-cultures. Ongoing TCR sequencing of serial CD4+ T cell samples (baseline versus 14 days under NLC conditions) will characterize changes of clonal architecture in the T helper cell compartment, and will further improve our understanding of co-evolution of CLL and T helper cells. Disclosures Wierda: Gilead Sciences: Research Funding; Juno Therapeutics: Research Funding; KITE pharma: Research Funding; Sunesis: Research Funding; Miragen: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Xencor: Research Funding; Acerta Pharma Inc: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics LLC: Research Funding; Genentech: Research Funding; AbbVie: Research Funding; GSK/Novartis: Research Funding; Oncternal Therapeutics Inc.: Research Funding; Cyclcel: Research Funding; Loxo Oncology Inc.: Research Funding. Burger:Aptose Biosciences, Inc: Research Funding; BeiGene: Research Funding; Gilead Sciences: Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria; Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie company: Research Funding.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Gasch ◽  
Tina Goroll ◽  
Mario Bauer ◽  
Denise Hinz ◽  
Nicole Schütze ◽  
...  

The T helper cell subsets Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg play an important role in immune cell homeostasis, in host defense, and in immunological disorders. Recently, much attention has been paid to Th17 cells which seem to play an important role in the early phase of the adoptive immune response and autoimmune disease. When generating Th17 cells underin vitroconditions the amount of IL-17A producing cells hardly exceeds 20% while the nature of the remaining T cells is poorly characterized. As engagement of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has also been postulated to modulate the differentiation of T helper cells into Th17 cells with regard to the IL-17A expression we ask how far do Th17 polarizing conditions in combination with ligand induced AHR activation have an effect on the production of other T helper cell cytokines. We found that a high proportion of T helper cells cultured under Th17 polarizing conditions are IL-8 and IL-9 single producing cells and that AHR activation results in an upregulation of IL-8 and a downregulation of IL-9 production. Thus, we have identified IL-8 and IL-9 producing T helper cells which are subject to regulation by the engagement of the AHR.


1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda H. Elliott ◽  
William H. Brooks ◽  
Thomas L. Roszman

✓ The responsiveness of T cells and their subsets (T-helper cells and T-suppressor cells) obtained from patients with malignant gliomas was evaluated in an effort to further define the mechanism of their impaired host immunocompetence. This study demonstrates that peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from these patients have impaired responsiveness to a variety of mitogens including phytohemagglutinin, concanavalin A, pokeweed mitogen, and anti-T3 monoclonal antibody. The impaired lymphocyte responsiveness does not result from the inability of these cells to express receptors for a specific mitogen or antibody. The mitogenic responsiveness of purified T cells is markedly reduced when compared to values obtained from control subjects. Therefore, the decreased T cell reactivity of patients with malignant gliomas does not result simply from a diminution in the absolute number of potentially responding lymphocytes. The mitogen reactivity of the T cell subsets, CD4+ helper cells, and CD8+ cytotoxic/suppressor cells was also investigated. These results demonstrate that the responsiveness of the CD4+ T-helper cell subset obtained from these patients is consistently diminished as compared to control values. In contrast, the reactivity of the CD8+ T cell subset was not nearly as dramatically impaired. Thus, these results indicate that the proliferative defect observed in T cells obtained from patients is located predominantly in the T-helper cell subset. Functional deficiencies in this important subpopulation of T lymphocytes may explain, in part, the presence of depressed immune responsiveness in patients with malignant glial tumors.


Author(s):  
Margherita Amadi ◽  
Silvia Visentin ◽  
Francesca Tosato ◽  
Paola Fogar ◽  
Giulia Giacomini ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM) causes preterm delivery, and increases maternal T-cell response against the fetus. Fetal inflammatory response prompts maturation of the newborn’s immunocompetent cells, and could be associated with unfavorable neonatal outcome. The aims were to examine the effects of pPROM (Mercer BM. Preterm premature rupture of the membranes: current approaches to evaluation and management. Obstet Gynecol Clin N Am 2005;32:411) on the newborn’s and mother’s immune system and (Test G, Levy A, Wiznitzer A, Mazor M, Holcberg G, Zlotnik A, et al. Factors affecting the latency period in patients with preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM). Arch Gynecol Obstet 2011;283:707–10) to assess the predictive value of immune system changes in neonatal morbidity. Methods Mother-newborn pairs (18 mothers and 23 newborns) who experienced pPROM and controls (11 mothers and 14 newborns), were enrolled. Maternal and neonatal whole blood samples underwent flow cytometry to measure lymphocyte subpopulations. Results pPROM-newborns had fewer naïve CD4 T-cells, and more memory CD4 T-cells than control newborns. The effect was the same for increasing pPROM latency times before delivery. Gestational age and birth weight influenced maturation of the newborns’ lymphocyte subpopulations and white blood cells, notably cytotoxic T-cells, regulatory T-cells, T-helper cells (absolute count), and CD4/CD8 ratio. Among morbidities, fewer naïve CD8 T-cells were found in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (p=0.0009), and more T-helper cells in early onset sepsis (p=0.04). Conclusions pPROM prompts maturation of the newborn’s T-cell immune system secondary to antigenic stimulation, which correlates with pPROM latency. Maternal immunity to inflammatory conditions is associated with a decrease in non-major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted cytotoxic cells.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2365
Author(s):  
Christina E. Zielinski

T helper cell responses are tailored to their respective antigens and adapted to their specific tissue microenvironment. While a great proportion of T cells acquire a resident identity, a significant proportion of T cells continue circulating, thus encountering changing microenvironmental signals during immune surveillance. One signal, which has previously been largely overlooked, is sodium chloride. It has been proposed to have potent effects on T cell responses in the context of autoimmune, allergic and infectious tissue inflammation in mouse models and humans. Sodium chloride is stringently regulated in the blood by the kidneys but displays differential deposition patterns in peripheral tissues. Sodium chloride accumulation might furthermore be regulated by dietary intake and thus by intentional behavior. Together, these results make sodium chloride an interesting but still controversial signal for immune modulation. Its downstream cellular activities represent a potential therapeutic target given its effects on T cell cytokine production. In this review article, we provide an overview and critical evaluation of the impact of this ionic signal on T helper cell polarization and T helper cell effector functions. In addition, the impact of sodium chloride from the tissue microenvironment is assessed for human health and disease and for its therapeutic potential.


2018 ◽  
Vol 217 (8) ◽  
pp. 2615-2631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai P. Hoefig ◽  
Vigo Heissmeyer

T helper cell subsets orchestrate context- and pathogen-specific responses of the immune system. They mostly do so by secreting specific cytokines that attract or induce activation and differentiation of other immune or nonimmune cells. The differentiation of T helper 1 (Th1), Th2, T follicular helper, Th17, and induced regulatory T cell subsets from naive T cells depends on the activation of intracellular signal transduction cascades. These cascades originate from T cell receptor and costimulatory receptor engagement and also receive critical input from cytokine receptors that sample the cytokine milieu within secondary lymphoid organs. Signal transduction then leads to the expression of subset-specifying transcription factors that, in concert with other transcription factors, up-regulate downstream signature genes. Although regulation of transcription is important, recent research has shown that posttranscriptional and posttranslational regulation can critically shape or even determine the outcome of Th cell differentiation. In this review, we describe how specific microRNAs, long noncoding RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, and ubiquitin-modifying enzymes regulate their targets to skew cell fate decisions.


Blood ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 99 (11) ◽  
pp. 4053-4062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Heitger ◽  
Patricia Winklehner ◽  
Petra Obexer ◽  
Johannes Eder ◽  
Claudia Zelle-Rieser ◽  
...  

Impaired T-cell function after T-cell– depleting (TCD) therapy has been hypothesized to be related to a transient predominance of extrathymically expanding memory T cells. To test whether after TCD therapy the naive T-helper cell population is functionally intact, the in vitro immune response of CD4+CD45RA+ (naive) and of CD4+CD45RA− (memory) cells to polyclonal mitogens (immobilized anti-CD3, phytohemagglutinin) was analyzed by flow cytometry in 22 pediatric patients after high-dose chemotherapy (including 5 after autologous and 5 after allogeneic stem cell support). At 1 to 3 months after TCD therapy, patient samples showing decreased lymphoproliferative responses also showed a reduced induction of the early activation marker CD69 by CD4+ T cells from 4 to 72 hours after stimulation even when supplemented with exogenous interleukin-2. This defect affected CD4+CD45RA− cells, but, strikingly, also CD4+CD45RA+ cells, including samples in which CD4+CD45RA+ cells were more than 90/μL, thus indicating ongoing thymopoiesis. Histogram analyses showed the median peak channel of CD69 in control CD4+CD45RA+cells rising 98-fold (median) but only 28-fold in patient cells (P < .0001). Apoptosis as detected by annexin V staining was increased in resting patient CD4+ T cells (25% versus 6%) and also affected CD4+CD45RA+ cells (12% versus 5%, P < .01). When peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were enriched for T cells, stimulatory responses of CD4+ cells and of CD4+CD45RA+ cells markedly improved. Thus, after TCD therapy suppressor factors contained in the non–T-cell fraction of PBMCs may affect T-helper cells irrespective of their naive or memory phenotype thus extending T-cell dysfunction to the presumably thymus-dependently regenerated T cells.


1983 ◽  
Vol 158 (3) ◽  
pp. 811-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
M McNamara ◽  
H Kohler

In this study T helper cells that recognize idiotypes as carriers for a hapten-specific B cell response were analyzed under limiting dilution conditions. T helper cells, induced by phosphorylcholine-hemocyanin (PC-Hy) priming, recognize trinitrophenylated TEPC-15 and MOPC-167 (TNP-T15, TNP-167) equally well. Limiting dilution analysis indicates identical frequencies of helper cells for TNP-T15 and TNP-167. Double immunization protocols using TNP-T15 and TNP-167 fail to demonstrate additive effects. Inhibition of carrier recognition in vitro using free hapten, PC, and unconjugated T15 or M167 indicates identical specificities of helper cells for T15 and M167. Collectively, these results provide strong evidence that PC-Hy priming induces only one population of idiotype-recognizing helper cells that are unable to distinguish between the T15 and the M167 idiotopes. The helper cell induction circuit was further analyzed. PC-Hy priming induces T15/167-specific helper T cells in X-linked immune defect-expressing F1 mice. This indicates that a B cell response to PC is not required to induce idiotype-recognizing T cells. Adoptive cotransfer of B cells from PC-Hy-primed mice together with normal T cells fails to induce idiotype-recognizing T cells. These results indicate the existence of a T helper1-T helper2 induction loop. In this scheme, the T helper1 cell carries T15-like receptors and the T helper2 cells, anti-T15-like receptors. Monoclonal antiidiotypic antibodies specific for T15 also induce a T15/167-recognizing T helper cell population. This finding demonstrates that idiotope-specific priming induces non-idiotype-specific T cells. Evidently, the idiotypic T cell network is based on a different selection of idiotope determinants than the selection of the B cell idiotype network.


1982 ◽  
Vol 155 (3) ◽  
pp. 831-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
J S McDougal ◽  
F W Shen ◽  
S P Cort ◽  
J Bard

The Qa-1 cell surface phenotype reportedly distinguishes two Ly-1 T cell subsets conjointly required for T helper effector activity. Ly-1 cells, obtained from several different priming regimens, were negatively selected with anti-Qa-1 plus complement and compared with unselected Ly-1 cells for helper cell activity. Priming isolated T cells on antigen-pulsed macrophages in the absence of B cells favors the generation of the Ly-1:Qa1- subset, which is capable of efficient helper activity in the absence of the Ly-1:Qa-1+ subset. Priming T cells in an environment containing B cells generates both Ly-1:Qa-1- helper effector cells and Ly-1:Qa-1+ cells which contribute to the helper effect. Whether Ly-1:Qa-1+ cells are capable of independent helper activity cannot be determined, and, as such, Ly-1:Qa-1+ cells are more appropriately termed "help associated" rather than "helper effector." Our results assign a membrane phenotype, Qa-1, which distinguishes an Ly-1 help-associated B cell requiring subset in our system and may prove to be a general marker in a number of systems of Ly-1 inducer cell subsets which functionally require or recognize B cells or their products.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (55) ◽  
pp. eabb6852
Author(s):  
Young Min Son ◽  
In Su Cheon ◽  
Yue Wu ◽  
Chaofan Li ◽  
Zheng Wang ◽  
...  

Much remains unknown about the roles of CD4+ T helper cells in shaping localized memory B cell and CD8+ T cell immunity in the mucosal tissues. Here, we report that lung T helper cells provide local assistance for the optimal development of tissue-resident memory B and CD8+ T cells after the resolution of primary influenza virus infection. We have identified a population of T cells in the lung that exhibit characteristics of both follicular T helper and TRM cells, and we have termed these cells as resident helper T (TRH) cells. Optimal TRH cell formation was dependent on transcription factors involved in T follicular helper and resident memory T cell development including BCL6 and Bhlhe40. We show that TRH cells deliver local help to CD8+ T cells through IL-21–dependent mechanisms. Our data have uncovered the presence of a tissue-resident helper T cell population in the lung that plays a critical role in promoting the development of protective B cell and CD8+ T cell responses.


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