Low-dose Interleukin-2 in the Treatment of Autoimmune Disease

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (02) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Koreth ◽  
Jerome Ritz ◽  
George C Tsokos ◽  
Alberto Pugliese ◽  
Thomas R Malek ◽  
...  

CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) act to maintain peripheral immune tolerance. Decreased numbers or defective function of Tregs has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) at high doses is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an immune stimulant to induce anti-tumor cytotoxicity. However, at physiologic doses, IL-2 is necessary for the expansion and function of Tregs. Treatment with low-dose IL-2 can selectively enhance Treg function while avoiding the activation of effector T cells and ameliorate immune inflammation. Administration of low doses of IL-2 to patients suffering from chronic graft versus host disease (cGvHD) or chronic hepatitis C-mediated vasculitis resulted in significant clinical benefit, which was linked to improved Treg cell function. Preclinical studies suggest that low-dose IL-2 may offer benefit in other autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus and type 1 diabetes. Ongoing preclinical and clinical studies indicate a wider potential role for low-dose IL-2 based Treg therapeutics in human autoimmune diseases.

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 237.1-238
Author(s):  
M. Rosenzwajg ◽  
R. Lorenzon ◽  
P. Cacoub ◽  
F. Pitoiset ◽  
S. Aractingi ◽  
...  

Background:Regulatory T cells (Tregs) prevent autoimmunity and control inflammation. As low-dose interleukin-2 (ld-IL2) expands and activates Tregs, it has a broad therapeutic potential for any autoimmune or inflammatory disease (AIID). We performed a disease-finding “basket trial” (TRANSREGNCT01988506) in patients affected by one of 11 different AIID and reported the outcome of the first 46 patients (Rosenzwajg et al, ARD 2019).Objectives:Here we analyzed and discussed results from deep immunophenotyping, of 78 patients, to comprehensively study the effect of ld-IL2 on the immune system of patients affected by various AIIDMethods:We performed a prospective, open label, phase I-IIa study in 78 patients with a mild to moderate form of one of 13 selected AIID. All patients received ld-IL2 (1 million IU/day) for 5 days, followed by fortnightly injections for 6 months. Deep immunophenotyping was performed before and after 5 days of ld-IL2.Results:ld-IL2 significantly expands both memory Tregs as well as naïve Tregs, including recent thymic emigrant Tregs. It also activates Tregs as demonstrated by the significantly increased expression of HLA-DR, CD39, CD73, GITR, CTLA-4. Similar results were observed across the different AIID.Conclusion:ld-IL2 “universally” improves Treg fitness across 13 autoimmune and inflammatory disease.References:[1]Rosenzwajg M#, Lorenzon R#, Cacoub P, Pham HP, Pitoiset F, El Soufi K, RIbet C, Bernard C, Aractingi S, Banneville B, Beaugerie L, Berenbaum F, Champey J, Chazouilleres O, Corpechot C, Fautrel B, Mekinian A, Regnier E, Saadoun D, Salem JE, Sellam J, Seksik P, Daguenel-Nguyen A, Doppler V, Mariau J, Vicaut E, Klatzmann D. Immunological and clinical effects of low-dose interleukin-2 across 11 autoimmune diseases in a single, open clinical trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 Feb;78(2):209-217. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-214229. Epub 2018 Nov 24.Disclosure of Interests:Michelle Rosenzwajg: None declared, Roberta Lorenzon: None declared, Patrice cacoub: None declared, Fabien Pitoiset: None declared, Selim Aractingi: None declared, Beatrice Banneville Speakers bureau: Lilly, Novartis, Laurent Beaugerie: None declared, Francis Berenbaum Grant/research support from: TRB Chemedica (through institution), MSD (through institution), Pfizer (through institution), Consultant of: Novartis, MSD, Pfizer, Lilly, UCB, Abbvie, Roche, Servier, Sanofi-Aventis, Flexion Therapeutics, Expanscience, GSK, Biogen, Nordic, Sandoz, Regeneron, Gilead, Bone Therapeutics, Regulaxis, Peptinov, 4P Pharma, Paid instructor for: Sandoz, Speakers bureau: Novartis, MSD, Pfizer, Lilly, UCB, Abbvie, Roche, Servier, Sanofi-Aventis, Flexion Therapeutics, Expanscience, GSK, Biogen, Nordic, Sandoz, Regeneron, Gilead, Sandoz, Julien Champey: None declared, Olivier Chazouilleres: None declared, Christophe Corpechot: None declared, Bruno Fautrel Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Lilly, MSD, Pfizer, Consultant of: AbbVie, Biogen, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Lilly, Janssen, Medac MSD France, Nordic Pharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi Aventis, SOBI and UCB, Arsene Mekinian: None declared, Elodie Regnier: None declared, david Saadoun: None declared, Joe-Elie Salem: None declared, Jérémie SELLAM: None declared, Philippe Seksik: None declared, David Klatzmann Consultant of: ILTOO Pharma


2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Rosenzwajg ◽  
Roberta Lorenzon ◽  
Patrice Cacoub ◽  
Hang Phuong Pham ◽  
Fabien Pitoiset ◽  
...  

ObjectiveRegulatory T cells (Tregs) prevent autoimmunity and control inflammation. Consequently, any autoimmune or inflammatory disease reveals a Treg insufficiency. As low-dose interleukin-2 (ld-IL2) expands and activates Tregs, it has a broad therapeutic potential.AimWe aimed to assess this potential and select diseases for further clinical development by cross-investigating the effects of ld-IL2 in a single clinical trial treating patients with 1 of 11 autoimmune diseases.MethodsWe performed a prospective, open-label, phase I–IIa study in 46 patients with a mild to moderate form of either rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, Behcet’s disease, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, Takayasu’s disease, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune hepatitis and sclerosing cholangitis. They all received ld-IL2 (1 million IU/day) for 5 days, followed by fortnightly injections for 6 months. Patients were evaluated by deep immunomonitoring and clinical evaluation.Resultsld-IL2 was well tolerated whatever the disease and the concomitant treatments. Thorough supervised and unsupervised immunomonitoring demonstrated specific Treg expansion and activation in all patients, without effector T cell activation. Indication of potential clinical efficacy was observed.ConclusionThe dose of IL-2 and treatment scheme used selectively activate and expand Tregs and are safe across different diseases and concomitant treatments. This and preliminary indications of clinical efficacy should licence the launch of phase II efficacy trial of ld-IL2 in various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.Trial registration numberNCT01988506.


2002 ◽  
Vol 196 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gláucia C. Furtado ◽  
Maria A. Curotto de Lafaille ◽  
Nino Kutchukhidze ◽  
Juan J. Lafaille

Mice deficient in interleukin (IL)-2 production or the IL-2 receptor α or β chains develop a lethal autoimmune syndrome. CD4+ regulatory T cells have been shown to prevent autoimmune diseases, allograft rejection, and to down-regulate antibody responses against foreign antigens. To assess the role of IL-2 in the generation and function of regulatory T cells, we transferred CD4+ T cells from mice genetically deficient in IL-2 or IL-2Rα (CD25) expression. A small number of splenic or thymic CD4+ T cells from IL-2 knockout mice can protect mice from spontaneous experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In contrast, splenic or thymic CD4+ T cells from CD25 knockout donor mice conferred little or no protection. We conclude that T cells with regulatory potential can develop, undergo thymic selection, and migrate to the peripheral lymphoid organs in the absence of IL-2, and do not protect from disease by means of IL-2 secretion. However, IL-2 signaling in regulatory T cells is essential for their protective function. Altogether, our results favor a model whereby IL-2 induces regulatory T cell activity.


Author(s):  
Marc Permanyer ◽  
Berislav Bošnjak ◽  
Silke Glage ◽  
Michaela Friedrichsen ◽  
Stefan Floess ◽  
...  

AbstractSignaling via interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) is a requisite for regulatory T (Treg) cell identity and function. However, it is not completely understood to what degree IL-2R signaling is required for Treg cell homeostasis, lineage stability and function in both resting and inflammatory conditions. Here, we characterized a spontaneous mutant mouse strain endowed with a hypomorphic Tyr129His variant of CD25, the α-chain of IL-2R, which resulted in diminished receptor expression and reduced IL-2R signaling. Under noninflammatory conditions, Cd25Y129H mice harbored substantially lower numbers of peripheral Treg cells with stable Foxp3 expression that prevented the development of spontaneous autoimmune disease. In contrast, Cd25Y129H Treg cells failed to efficiently induce immune suppression and lost lineage commitment in a T-cell transfer colitis model, indicating that unimpaired IL-2R signaling is critical for Treg cell function in inflammatory environments. Moreover, single-cell RNA sequencing of Treg cells revealed that impaired IL-2R signaling profoundly affected the balance of central and effector Treg cell subsets. Thus, partial loss of IL-2R signaling differentially interferes with the maintenance, heterogeneity, and suppressive function of the Treg cell pool.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. e002628
Author(s):  
Jitao Guo ◽  
Andrew Kent ◽  
Eduardo Davila

Adoptively transferred T cell-based cancer therapies have shown incredible promise in treatment of various cancers. So far therapeutic strategies using T cells have focused on manipulation of the antigen-recognition machinery itself, such as through selective expression of tumor-antigen specific T cell receptors or engineered antigen-recognition chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). While several CARs have been approved for treatment of hematopoietic malignancies, this kind of therapy has been less successful in the treatment of solid tumors, in part due to lack of suitable tumor-specific targets, the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, and the inability of adoptively transferred cells to maintain their therapeutic potentials. It is critical for therapeutic T cells to overcome immunosuppressive environmental triggers, mediating balanced antitumor immunity without causing unwanted inflammation or autoimmunity. To address these hurdles, chimeric receptors with distinct signaling properties are being engineered to function as allies of tumor antigen-specific receptors, modulating unique aspects of T cell function without directly binding to antigen themselves. In this review, we focus on the design and function of these chimeric non-antigen receptors, which fall into three broad categories: ‘inhibitory-to-stimulatory’ switch receptors that bind natural ligands, enhanced stimulatory receptors that interact with natural ligands, and synthetic receptor-ligand pairs. Our intent is to offer detailed descriptions that will help readers to understand the structure and function of these receptors, as well as inspire development of additional novel synthetic receptors to improve T cell-based cancer therapy.


2009 ◽  
Vol 206 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall H. Friedline ◽  
David S. Brown ◽  
Hai Nguyen ◽  
Hardy Kornfeld ◽  
JinHee Lee ◽  
...  

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) plays a critical role in negatively regulating T cell responses and has also been implicated in the development and function of natural FOXP3+ regulatory T cells. CTLA-4–deficient mice develop fatal, early onset lymphoproliferative disease. However, chimeric mice containing both CTLA-4–deficient and –sufficient bone marrow (BM)–derived cells do not develop disease, indicating that CTLA-4 can act in trans to maintain T cell self-tolerance. Using genetically mixed blastocyst and BM chimaeras as well as in vivo T cell transfer systems, we demonstrate that in vivo regulation of Ctla4−/− T cells in trans by CTLA-4–sufficient T cells is a reversible process that requires the persistent presence of FOXP3+ regulatory T cells with a diverse TCR repertoire. Based on gene expression studies, the regulatory T cells do not appear to act directly on T cells, suggesting they may instead modulate the stimulatory activities of antigen-presenting cells. These results demonstrate that CTLA-4 is absolutely required for FOXP3+ regulatory T cell function in vivo.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (24) ◽  
pp. 13323-13334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Wang ◽  
Mario Lobigs ◽  
Eva Lee ◽  
Arno Müllbacher

ABSTRACT C57BL/6J mice infected intravenously with the Sarafend strain of West Nile virus (WNV) develop a characteristic central nervous system (CNS) disease, including an acute inflammatory reaction. Dose response studies indicate two distinct kinetics of mortality. At high doses of infection (108 PFU), direct infection of the brain occurred within 24 h, resulting in 100% mortality with a 6-day mean survival time (MST), and there was minimal destruction of neural tissue. A low dose (103 PFU) of infection resulted in 27% mortality (MST, 11 days), and virus could be detected in the CNS 7 days postinfection (p.i.). Virus was present in the hypogastric lymph nodes and spleens at days 4 to 7 p.i. Histology of the brains revealed neuronal degeneration and inflammation within leptomeninges and brain parenchyma. Inflammatory cell infiltration was detectable in brains from day 4 p.i. onward in the high-dose group and from day 7 p.i. in the low-dose group, with the severity of infiltration increasing over time. The cellular infiltrates in brain consisted predominantly of CD8+, but not CD4+, T cells. CD8+ T cells in the brain and the spleen expressed the activation markers CD69 early and expressed CD25 at later time points. CD8+ T-cell-deficient mice infected with 103 PFU of WNV showed increased mortalities but prolonged MST and early infection of the CNS compared to wild-type mice. Using high doses of virus in CD8-deficient mice leads to increased survival. These results provide evidence that CD8+ T cells are involved in both recovery and immunopathology in WNV infection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongyao Wang ◽  
Binqing Fu ◽  
Xiaokun Shen ◽  
Chuang Guo ◽  
Yanyan Liu ◽  
...  

AbstractPatients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) undergoing interferon (IFN)-α-based therapies often exhibit a poor HBeAg serological response. Thus, there is an unmet need for new therapies aimed at CHB. This study comprised two clinical trials, including 130 CHB patients, who were treatment-naïve; in the first, 92 patients were systematically analyzed ex vivo for interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) expression and inhibitory molecules expression after receiving Peg-IFN-α-2b therapy. In our second clinical trial, 38 non-responder patients, in whom IFN-α therapy had failed, were treated with or without low-dose IL-2 for 24 weeks. We then examined the hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific CD8+ T-cell response and the clinical outcome, in these patients. Although the majority of the participants undergoing Peg-IFN-α-2b therapy were non-responders, we observed a decrease in CD25 expression on their CD4+ T cells, suggesting that IFN-α therapy may provide a rationale for sequential IL-2 treatment without increasing regulatory T cells (Tregs). Following sequential therapy with IL-2, we demonstrated that the non-responders experienced a decrease in the numbers of Tregs and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) expression. In addition, sequential IL-2 administration rescued effective immune function, involving signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) activation. Importantly, IL-2 therapy significantly increased the frequency and function of HBV-specific CD8+ T cells, which translated into improved clinical outcomes, including HBeAg seroconversion, among the non-responder CHB patients. Our findings suggest that sequential IL-2 therapy shows efficacy in rescuing immune function in non-responder patients with refractory CHB.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-193
Author(s):  
Concetta Ferretti ◽  
David A. Horwitz ◽  
Sean Bickerton ◽  
Antonio La Cava

Abstract We recently reported that poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with interleukin (IL)-2 and targeted to T cells inhibited the development of lupus-like disease in BDF1 mice by inducing functional T regulatory cells (Tregs). Here we show that the protection from disease and the extended survival of BDF1 mice provided by IL-2-loaded NPs targeted to T cells is not only due to an induction of Tregs but also contributed by an inhibition of T follicular helper (TFH) cells. These results identify a dual protective activity of IL-2 in the control of lupus autoimmunity, namely the inhibition of effector TFH cells, in addition to the previously known induction of Tregs. This newly recognized activity of IL-2 delivered by NPs can help better explain the beneficial effects of low-dose IL-2 immunotherapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and might be considered as a new strategy to slow disease progression and improve outcomes in lupus patients.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document