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Holtappels R, Büttner JK, Freitag K, Reddehase MJ, Lemmermann NA. Modulation of cytomegalovirus immune evasion identifies direct antigen presentation as the predominant mode of CD8 T-cell priming during immune reconstitution after hematopoietic cell transplantation. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1355153. [PMID: 38426094 PMCID: PMC10902149 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1355153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most critical infectious complication in recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in the period between a therapeutic hematoablative treatment and the hematopoietic reconstitution of the immune system. Clinical investigation as well as the mouse model of experimental HCT have consistently shown that timely reconstitution of antiviral CD8 T cells is critical for preventing CMV disease in HCT recipients. Reconstitution of cells of the T-cell lineage generates naïve CD8 T cells with random specificities among which CMV-specific cells need to be primed by presentation of viral antigen for antigen-specific clonal expansion and generation of protective antiviral effector CD8 T cells. For CD8 T-cell priming two pathways are discussed: "direct antigen presentation" by infected professional antigen-presenting cells (pAPCs) and "antigen cross-presentation" by uninfected pAPCs that take up antigenic material derived from infected tissue cells. Current view in CMV immunology favors the cross-priming hypothesis with the argument that viral immune evasion proteins, known to interfere with the MHC class-I pathway of direct antigen presentation by infected cells, would inhibit the CD8 T-cell response. While the mode of antigen presentation in the mouse model of CMV infection has been studied in the immunocompetent host under genetic or experimental conditions excluding either pathway of antigen presentation, we are not aware of any study addressing the medically relevant question of how newly generated naïve CD8 T cells become primed in the phase of lympho-hematopoietic reconstitution after HCT. Here we used the well-established mouse model of experimental HCT and infection with murine CMV (mCMV) and pursued the recently described approach of up- or down-modulating direct antigen presentation by using recombinant viruses lacking or overexpressing the central immune evasion protein m152 of mCMV, respectively. Our data reveal that the magnitude of the CD8 T-cell response directly reflects the level of direct antigen presentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafaela Holtappels
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Julia K. Büttner
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Kirsten Freitag
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias J. Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Niels A. Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Institute of Virology, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
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2
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Kavazović I, Dimitropoulos C, Gašparini D, Rončević Filipović M, Barković I, Koster J, Lemmermann NA, Babić M, Cekinović Grbeša Đ, Wensveen FM. Vaccination provides superior in vivo recall capacity of SARS-CoV-2-specific memory CD8 T cells. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112395. [PMID: 37099427 PMCID: PMC10070771 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Memory CD8 T cells play an important role in the protection against breakthrough infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Whether the route of antigen exposure impacts these cells at a functional level is incompletely characterized. Here, we compare the memory CD8 T cell response against a common SARS-CoV-2 epitope after vaccination, infection, or both. CD8 T cells demonstrate comparable functional capacity when restimulated directly ex vivo, independent of the antigenic history. However, analysis of T cell receptor usage shows that vaccination results in a narrower scope than infection alone or in combination with vaccination. Importantly, in an in vivo recall model, memory CD8 T cells from infected individuals show equal proliferation but secrete less tumor necrosis factor (TNF) compared with those from vaccinated people. This difference is negated when infected individuals have also been vaccinated. Our findings shed more light on the differences in susceptibility to re-infection after different routes of SARS-CoV-2 antigen exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inga Kavazović
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
| | | | - Dora Gašparini
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
| | | | - Igor Barković
- Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
| | - Jan Koster
- Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine, 1105AZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Niels A Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Marina Babić
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia; Innate Immunity, German Rheumatism Research Centre-a Leibniz Institute, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Felix M Wensveen
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia.
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Holtappels R, Podlech J, Freitag K, Lemmermann NA, Reddehase MJ. Memory CD8 T Cells Protect against Cytomegalovirus Disease by Formation of Nodular Inflammatory Foci Preventing Intra-Tissue Virus Spread. Viruses 2022; 14:v14061145. [PMID: 35746617 PMCID: PMC9229300 DOI: 10.3390/v14061145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) are controlled by innate and adaptive immune responses in an immunocompetent host while causing multiple organ diseases in an immunocompromised host. A risk group of high clinical relevance comprises transiently immunocompromised recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in the “window of risk” between eradicative therapy of hematopoietic malignancies and complete reconstitution of the immune system. Cellular immunotherapy by adoptive transfer of CMV-specific CD8 T cells is an option to prevent CMV disease by controlling a primary or reactivated infection. While experimental models have revealed a viral epitope-specific antiviral function of cognate CD8 T cells, the site at which control is exerted remained unidentified. The observation that remarkably few transferred cells protect all organs may indicate an early blockade of virus dissemination from a primary site of productive infection to various target organs. Alternatively, it could indicate clonal expansion of a few transferred CD8 T cells for preventing intra-tissue virus spread after successful initial organ colonization. Our data in the mouse model of murine CMV infection provide evidence in support of the second hypothesis. We show that transferred cells vigorously proliferate to prevent virus spread, and thus viral histopathology, by confining and eventually resolving tissue infection within nodular inflammatory foci.
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Gergely KM, Podlech J, Becker S, Freitag K, Krauter S, Büscher N, Holtappels R, Plachter B, Reddehase MJ, Lemmermann NAW. Therapeutic Vaccination of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Recipients Improves Protective CD8 T-Cell Immunotherapy of Cytomegalovirus Infection. Front Immunol 2021; 12:694588. [PMID: 34489940 PMCID: PMC8416627 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.694588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Reactivation of latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) endangers the therapeutic success of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in tumor patients due to cytopathogenic virus spread that leads to organ manifestations of CMV disease, to interstitial pneumonia in particular. In cases of virus variants that are refractory to standard antiviral pharmacotherapy, immunotherapy by adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of virus-specific CD8+ T cells is the last resort to bridge the "protection gap" between hematoablative conditioning for HCT and endogenous reconstitution of antiviral immunity. We have used the well-established mouse model of CD8+ T-cell immunotherapy by ACT in a setting of experimental HCT and murine CMV (mCMV) infection to pursue the concept of improving the efficacy of ACT by therapeutic vaccination (TherVac) post-HCT. TherVac aims at restimulation and expansion of limited numbers of transferred antiviral CD8+ T cells within the recipient. Syngeneic HCT was performed with C57BL/6 mice as donors and recipients. Recipients were infected with recombinant mCMV (mCMV-SIINFEKL) that expresses antigenic peptide SIINFEKL presented to CD8+ T cells by the MHC class-I molecule Kb. ACT was performed with transgenic OT-I CD8+ T cells expressing a T-cell receptor specific for SIINFEKL-Kb. Recombinant human CMV dense bodies (DB-SIINFEKL), engineered to contain SIINFEKL within tegument protein pUL83/pp65, served for vaccination. DBs were chosen as they represent non-infectious, enveloped, and thus fusion-competent subviral particles capable of activating dendritic cells and delivering antigens directly into the cytosol for processing and presentation in the MHC class-I pathway. One set of our experiments documents the power of vaccination with DBs in protecting the immunocompetent host against a challenge infection. A further set of experiments revealed a significant improvement of antiviral control in HCT recipients by combining ACT with TherVac. In both settings, the benefit from vaccination with DBs proved to be strictly epitope-specific. The capacity to protect was lost when DBs included the peptide sequence SIINFEKA lacking immunogenicity and antigenicity due to C-terminal residue point mutation L8A, which prevents efficient proteasomal peptide processing and binding to Kb. Our preclinical research data thus provide an argument for using pre-emptive TherVac to enhance antiviral protection by ACT in HCT recipients with diagnosed CMV reactivation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Niels A. W. Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Immunodominant Cytomegalovirus Epitopes Suppress Subdominant Epitopes in the Generation of High-Avidity CD8 T Cells. Pathogens 2021; 10:pathogens10080956. [PMID: 34451420 PMCID: PMC8400798 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10080956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
CD8+ T-cell responses to pathogens are directed against infected cells that present pathogen-encoded peptides on MHC class-I molecules. Although natural responses are polyclonal, the spectrum of peptides that qualify for epitopes is remarkably small even for pathogens with high coding capacity. Among those few that are successful at all, a hierarchy exists in the magnitude of the response that they elicit in terms of numbers of CD8+ T cells generated. This led to a classification into immunodominant and non-immunodominant or subordinate epitopes, IDEs and non-IDEs, respectively. IDEs are favored in the design of vaccines and are chosen for CD8+ T-cell immunotherapy. Using murine cytomegalovirus as a model, we provide evidence to conclude that epitope hierarchy reflects competition on the level of antigen recognition. Notably, high-avidity cells specific for non-IDEs were found to expand only when IDEs were deleted. This may be a host’s back-up strategy to avoid viral immune escape through antigenic drift caused by IDE mutations. Importantly, our results are relevant for the design of vaccines based on cytomegaloviruses as vectors to generate high-avidity CD8+ T-cell memory specific for unrelated pathogens or tumors. We propose the deletion of vector-encoded IDEs to avoid the suppression of epitopes of the vaccine target.
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Zinsli LV, Stierlin N, Loessner MJ, Schmelcher M. Deimmunization of protein therapeutics - Recent advances in experimental and computational epitope prediction and deletion. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2020; 19:315-329. [PMID: 33425259 PMCID: PMC7779837 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.12.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Revised: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Biotherapeutics, and antimicrobial proteins in particular, are of increasing interest for human medicine. An important challenge in the development of such therapeutics is their potential immunogenicity, which can induce production of anti-drug-antibodies, resulting in altered pharmacokinetics, reduced efficacy, and potentially severe anaphylactic or hypersensitivity reactions. For this reason, the development and application of effective deimmunization methods for protein drugs is of utmost importance. Deimmunization may be achieved by unspecific shielding approaches, which include PEGylation, fusion to polypeptides (e.g., XTEN or PAS), reductive methylation, glycosylation, and polysialylation. Alternatively, the identification of epitopes for T cells or B cells and their subsequent deletion through site-directed mutagenesis represent promising deimmunization strategies and can be accomplished through either experimental or computational approaches. This review highlights the most recent advances and current challenges in the deimmunization of protein therapeutics, with a special focus on computational epitope prediction and deletion tools.
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Key Words
- ABR, Antigen-binding region
- ADA, Anti-drug antibody
- ANN, Artificial neural network
- APC, Antigen-presenting cell
- Anti-drug-antibody
- B cell epitope
- BCR, B cell receptor
- Bab, Binding antibody
- CDR, Complementarity determining region
- CRISPR, Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats
- DC, Dendritic cell
- ELP, Elastin-like polypeptide
- EPO, Erythropoietin
- ER, Endoplasmatic reticulum
- GLK, Gelatin-like protein
- HAP, Homo-amino-acid polymer
- HLA, Human leukocyte antigen
- HMM, Hidden Markov model
- IL, Interleukin
- Ig, Immunoglobulin
- Immunogenicity
- LPS, Lipopolysaccharide
- MHC, Major histocompatibility complex
- NMR, Nuclear magnetic resonance
- Nab, Neutralizing antibody
- PAMP, Pathogen-associated molecular pattern
- PAS, Polypeptide composed of proline, alanine, and/or serine
- PBMC, Peripheral blood mononuclear cell
- PD, Pharmacodynamics
- PEG, Polyethylene glycol
- PK, Pharmacokinetics
- PRR, Pattern recognition receptor
- PSA, Sialic acid polymers
- Protein therapeutic
- RNN, Recurrent artificial neural network
- SVM, Support vector machine
- T cell epitope
- TAP, Transporter associated with antigen processing
- TCR, T cell receptor
- TLR, Toll-like receptor
- XTEN, “Xtended” recombinant polypeptide
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Affiliation(s)
- Léa V. Zinsli
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Noël Stierlin
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Martin J. Loessner
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Mathias Schmelcher
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Gezinir E, Podlech J, Gergely KM, Becker S, Reddehase MJ, Lemmermann NAW. Enhancement of Antigen Presentation by Deletion of Viral Immune Evasion Genes Prevents Lethal Cytomegalovirus Disease in Minor Histocompatibility Antigen-Mismatched Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:279. [PMID: 32582572 PMCID: PMC7296086 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.00279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Hematoablative treatment followed by hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for reconstituting the co-ablated immune system is a therapeutic option to cure aggressive forms of hematopoietic malignancies. In cases of family donors or unrelated donors, immunogenetic mismatches in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and/or minor histocompatibility (minor-H) loci are unavoidable and bear a risk of graft-vs.-host reaction and disease (GvHR/D). Transient immunodeficiency inherent to the HCT protocol favors a productive reactivation of latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) that can result in multiple-organ CMV disease. In addition, there exists evidence from a mouse model of MHC class-I-mismatched GvH-HCT to propose that mismatches interfere with an efficient reconstitution of antiviral immunity. Here we used a mouse model of MHC-matched HCT with C57BL/6 donors and MHC-congenic BALB.B recipients that only differ in polymorphic autosomal background genes, including minor-H loci coding for minor-H antigens (minor-HAg). Minor-HAg mismatch is found to promote lethal CMV disease in absence of a detectable GvH response to an immunodominant minor-HAg, the H60 locus-encoded antigenic peptide LYL8. Lethality of infection correlates with inefficient reconstitution of viral epitope-specific CD8+ T cells. Notably, lethality is prevented and control of cytopathogenic infection is restored when viral antigen presentation is enhanced by deletion of immune evasion genes from the infecting virus. We hypothesize that any kind of mismatch in GvH-HCT can induce "non-cognate transplantation tolerance" that dampens not only a mismatch-specific GvH response, which is beneficial, but adversely affects also responses to mismatch-unrelated antigens, such as CMV antigens in the specific case, with the consequence of lethal CMV disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emin Gezinir
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Jürgen Podlech
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Kerstin M Gergely
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sara Becker
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias J Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Niels A W Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI) at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Eomes broadens the scope of CD8 T-cell memory by inhibiting apoptosis in cells of low affinity. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3000648. [PMID: 32182234 PMCID: PMC7077837 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The memory CD8 T-cell pool must select for clones that bind immunodominant epitopes with high affinity to efficiently counter reinfection. At the same time, it must retain a level of clonal diversity to allow recognition of pathogens with mutated epitopes. How the level of diversity within the memory pool is controlled is unclear, especially in the context of a selective drive for antigen affinity. We find that preservation of clones that bind the activating antigen with low affinity depends on expression of the transcription factor Eomes in the first days after antigen encounter. Eomes is induced at low activating signal strength and directly drives transcription of the prosurvival protein Bcl-2. At higher signal intensity, T-bet is induced which suppresses Bcl-2 and causes a relative survival advantage for cells of low affinity. Clones activated with high-affinity antigen form memory largely independent of Eomes and have a proliferative advantage over clones that bind the same antigen with low affinity. This causes high-affinity clones to prevail in the memory pool, despite their relative survival deficit. Genetic or therapeutic targeting of the Eomes/Bcl-2 axis reduces the clonal diversity of the memory pool, which diminishes its ability to respond to pathogens carrying mutations in immunodominant epitopes. Thus, we demonstrate on a molecular level how sufficient diversity of the memory pool is established in an environment of affinity-based selection. This study shows that the diversity of the memory CD8 T-cell pool is regulated by the transcription factor Eomes, which drives transcription of the pro-survival protein Bcl-2. Genetic or therapeutic targeting of the Eomes/Bcl-2 axis reduces the clonal diversity of the memory pool.
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Transcripts expressed in cytomegalovirus latency coding for an antigenic IE/E phase peptide that drives "memory inflation". Med Microbiol Immunol 2019; 208:439-446. [PMID: 31004200 DOI: 10.1007/s00430-019-00615-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Roizman's definition of herpesviral latency, which applies also to cytomegaloviruses (CMVs), demands maintenance of reactivation-competent viral genomes after clearance of productive infection. It is more recent understanding that failure to complete the productive viral cycle for virus assembly and release does not imply viral gene silencing at all genetic loci and all the time. It rather appears that CMV latency is transcriptionally "noisy" in that silenced viral genes get desilenced from time to time in a stochastic manner, leading to "transcripts expressed in latency" (TELs). If a TEL happens to code for a protein that contains a CD8 T cell epitope, protein processing can lead to the presentation of the antigenic peptide and restimulation of cognate CD8 T cells during latency. This mechanism is discussed as a potential driver of epitope-selective accumulation of CD8 T cells over time, a phenomenon linked to CMV latency and known as "memory inflation" (MI). So far, expression of an epitope-encoding TEL was shown only for the major immediate-early (MIE) gene m123/ie1 of murine cytomegalovirus (mCMV), which codes for the prototypic MI-driving antigenic peptide YPHFMPTNL that is presented by the MHC class-I molecule Ld. The only known second MI-driving antigenic peptide of mCMV in the murine MHC haplotype H-2d is AGPPRYSRI presented by the MHC-I molecule Dd. This peptide is very special in that it is encoded by the early (E) phase gene m164 and by an overlapping immediate-early (IE) transcript governed by a promoter upstream of m164. If MI is driven by presentation of TEL-derived antigenic peptides, as the hypothesis says, one should find corresponding TELs. We show here that E-phase and IE-phase transcripts that code for the MI-driving antigenic peptide AGPPRYSRI are independently and stochastically expressed in latently infected lungs.
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Reddehase MJ, Lemmermann NAW. Mouse Model of Cytomegalovirus Disease and Immunotherapy in the Immunocompromised Host: Predictions for Medical Translation that Survived the "Test of Time". Viruses 2018; 10:v10120693. [PMID: 30563202 PMCID: PMC6315540 DOI: 10.3390/v10120693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2018] [Revised: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Human Cytomegalovirus (hCMV), which is the prototype member of the β-subfamily of the herpesvirus family, is a pathogen of high clinical relevance in recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). hCMV causes multiple-organ disease and interstitial pneumonia in particular upon infection during the immunocompromised period before hematopoietic reconstitution restores antiviral immunity. Clinical investigation of pathomechanisms and of strategies for an immune intervention aimed at restoring antiviral immunity earlier than by hematopoietic reconstitution are limited in patients to observational studies mainly because of ethical issues including the imperative medical indication for chemotherapy with antivirals. Aimed experimental studies into mechanisms, thus, require animal models that match the human disease as close as possible. Any model for hCMV disease is, however, constrained by the strict host-species specificity of CMVs that prevents the study of hCMV in any animal model including non-human primates. During eons of co-speciation, CMVs each have evolved a set of "private genes" in adaptation to their specific mammalian host including genes that have no homolog in the CMV virus species of any other host species. With a focus on the mouse model of CD8 T cell-based immunotherapy of CMV disease after experimental HCT and infection with murine CMV (mCMV), we review data in support of the phenomenon of "biological convergence" in virus-host adaptation. This includes shared fundamental principles of immune control and immune evasion, which allows us to at least make reasoned predictions from the animal model as an experimental "proof of concept." The aim of a model primarily is to define questions to be addressed by clinical investigation for verification, falsification, or modification and the results can then give feedback to refine the experimental model for research from "bedside to bench".
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias J Reddehase
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center and Center for Immunotherapy of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Str. 67, D-55131 Mainz, Germany.
| | - Niels A W Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center and Center for Immunotherapy of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Str. 67, D-55131 Mainz, Germany.
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11
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Dekhtiarenko I, Ratts RB, Blatnik R, Lee LN, Fischer S, Borkner L, Oduro JD, Marandu TF, Hoppe S, Ruzsics Z, Sonnemann JK, Mansouri M, Meyer C, Lemmermann NAW, Holtappels R, Arens R, Klenerman P, Früh K, Reddehase MJ, Riemer AB, Cicin-Sain L. Peptide Processing Is Critical for T-Cell Memory Inflation and May Be Optimized to Improve Immune Protection by CMV-Based Vaccine Vectors. PLoS Pathog 2016; 12:e1006072. [PMID: 27977791 PMCID: PMC5158087 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2016] [Accepted: 11/17/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) elicits long-term T-cell immunity of unparalleled strength, which has allowed the development of highly protective CMV-based vaccine vectors. Counterintuitively, experimental vaccines encoding a single MHC-I restricted epitope offered better immune protection than those expressing entire proteins, including the same epitope. To clarify this conundrum, we generated recombinant murine CMVs (MCMVs) encoding well-characterized MHC-I epitopes at different positions within viral genes and observed strong immune responses and protection against viruses and tumor growth when the epitopes were expressed at the protein C-terminus. We used the M45-encoded conventional epitope HGIRNASFI to dissect this phenomenon at the molecular level. A recombinant MCMV expressing HGIRNASFI on the C-terminus of M45, in contrast to wild-type MCMV, enabled peptide processing by the constitutive proteasome, direct antigen presentation, and an inflation of antigen-specific effector memory cells. Consequently, our results indicate that constitutive proteasome processing of antigenic epitopes in latently infected cells is required for robust inflationary responses. This insight allows utilizing the epitope positioning in the design of CMV-based vectors as a novel strategy for enhancing their efficacy. Experimental cytomegalovirus (CMV) based vaccine vectors have provided highly encouraging results as innovative vaccine formulations against deadly virus infections, such as Ebola or AIDS. Nevertheless, it has remained incompletely understood why CMV is so efficient at stimulating T-lymphocytes, the immune cells that recognize pathogens within infected cells. We have generated an array of CMV mutants expressing the same antigen in different genes or in different parts of the same gene. This allowed us to identify that the immediate environment of the antigen, rather than properties of the antigen itself, crucially determine the immune protection conferred by CMV-based vaccines, implying that optimal immunity depends on the ability of host cells to degrade CMV proteins into peptides, short units that are recognized by T-cells. Detailed analysis revealed that strong and sustained T-cell immunity occurs only when their antigenic targets are processed by a primitive cellular machinery that is present in all cells of the body, rather than by its newly-evolved counterpart, which is present only in specialized antigen-presenting cells. Most importantly, our results provide a simple strategy to develop improved CMV vaccines by positioning the antigenic peptides at the right spot in CMV proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iryna Dekhtiarenko
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | | | - Renata Blatnik
- Immunotherapy and prevention, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Molecular Vaccine Design, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Lian N. Lee
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Sonja Fischer
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Lisa Borkner
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Jennifer D. Oduro
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Thomas F. Marandu
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
- Dar es Salaam University College of Education, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Stephanie Hoppe
- Immunotherapy and prevention, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Molecular Vaccine Design, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Zsolt Ruzsics
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Julia K. Sonnemann
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Mandana Mansouri
- Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, United States of America
| | | | - Niels A. W. Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Rafaela Holtappels
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Ramon Arens
- Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Paul Klenerman
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Klaus Früh
- TomegaVax Inc., Portland, Oregon, United States of America
- Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Beaverton, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Matthias J. Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Angelika B. Riemer
- Immunotherapy and prevention, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Molecular Vaccine Design, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Luka Cicin-Sain
- Department of Vaccinology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner site Hannover/Braunschweig, Germany
- Institute for Virology, Medical School Hannover, Germany
- * E-mail:
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12
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Refining human T-cell immunotherapy of cytomegalovirus disease: a mouse model with 'humanized' antigen presentation as a new preclinical study tool. Med Microbiol Immunol 2016; 205:549-561. [PMID: 27539576 DOI: 10.1007/s00430-016-0471-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2016] [Accepted: 08/03/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
With the cover headline 'T cells on the attack,' the journal Science celebrated individualized cancer immunotherapy by adoptive transfer of T cells as the 'Breakthrough of the Year' 2013 (J. Couzin-Frankel in Science 342:1432-1433, 2013). It is less well recognized and appreciated that individualized T cell immunotherapy of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is approaching clinical application for preventing CMV organ manifestations, interstitial CMV pneumonia in particular. This coincident medical development is particularly interesting as reactivated CMV infection is a major viral complication in the state of transient immunodeficiency after the therapy of hematopoietic malignancies by hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). It may thus be attractive to combine T cell immunotherapy of 'minimal residual disease/leukemia (MRD)' and CMV-specific T cell immunotherapy to combat both risks in HCT recipients simultaneously, and ideally with T cells derived from the respective HLA-matched HCT donor. Although clinical trials of human CMV-specific T cell immunotherapy were promising in that the incidence of virus reactivation and disease was found to be reduced with statistical significance, animal models are still instrumental for providing 'proof of concept' by directly documenting the prevention of viral multiple-organ histopathology and organ failure under controlled conditions of the absence versus presence of the therapy, which obviously is not feasible in an individual human patient. Further, animal models can make predictions regarding parameters that determine the efficacy of T cell immunotherapy for improved study design in clinical investigations, and they allow for manipulating host and virus genetics. The latter is of particular value as it opens the possibility for epitope specificity controls that are inherently missing in clinical trials. Here, we review a recently developed new mouse model that is more approximated to human CMV-specific T cell immunotherapy by 'humanizing' antigen presentation using antigenically chimeric CMV and HLA-transgenic mice to allow for an in vivo testing of the antiviral function of human CMV-specific T cells. As an important new message, this model predicts that T cell immunotherapy is most efficient if CD4 T cells are equipped with a transduced TCR directed against an epitope presented by MHC/HLA class-I for local delivery of 'cognate' help to CD8 effector T cells at infected MHC/HLA class-II-negative host tissue cells.
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13
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Reddehase MJ. Mutual Interference between Cytomegalovirus and Reconstitution of Protective Immunity after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. Front Immunol 2016; 7:294. [PMID: 27540380 PMCID: PMC4972816 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2016.00294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2016] [Accepted: 07/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a therapy option for aggressive forms of hematopoietic malignancies that are resistant to standard antitumoral therapies. Hematoablative treatment preceding HCT, however, opens a “window of opportunity” for latent Cytomegalovirus (CMV) by releasing it from immune control with the consequence of reactivation of productive viral gene expression and recurrence of infectious virus. A “window of opportunity” for the virus represents a “window of risk” for the patient. In the interim between HCT and reconstitution of antiviral immunity, primarily mediated by CD8+ T cells, initially low amounts of reactivated virus can expand exponentially, disseminate to essentially all organs, and cause multiple organ CMV disease, with interstitial pneumonia (CMV-IP) representing the most severe clinical manifestation. Here, I will review predictions originally made in the mouse model of experimental HCT and murine CMV infection, some of which have already paved the way to translational preclinical research and promising clinical trials of a preemptive cytoimmunotherapy of human CMV disease. Specifically, the mouse model has been pivotal in providing “proof of concept” for preventing CMV disease after HCT by adoptive transfer of preselected, virus epitope-specific effector and memory CD8+ T cells bridging the critical interim. However, CMV is not a “passive antigen” but is a pathogen that actively interferes with the reconstitution of protective immunity by infecting bone marrow (BM) stromal cells that otherwise form niches for hematopoiesis by providing the structural microenvironment and by producing hematopoietically active cytokines, the hemopoietins. Depending on the precise conditions of HCT, reduced homing of transplanted hematopoietic stem- and progenitor cells to infected BM stroma and impaired colony growth and lineage differentiation can lead to “graft failure.” In consequence, uncontrolled virus spread causes morbidity and mortality. In the race between viral BM pathology and reconstitution of antiviral immunity following HCT, exogenous reconstitution of virus-specific CD8+ T cells by adoptive cell transfer as an interventional strategy can turn the balance toward control of CMV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias J Reddehase
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), Institute for Virology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz , Mainz , Germany
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14
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Holtappels R, Lemmermann NAW, Podlech J, Ebert S, Reddehase MJ. Reconstitution of CD8 T Cells Protective against Cytomegalovirus in a Mouse Model of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Dynamics and Inessentiality of Epitope Immunodominance. Front Immunol 2016; 7:232. [PMID: 27379095 PMCID: PMC4905951 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2016.00232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2016] [Accepted: 05/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful reconstitution of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific CD8+ T cells by hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) gives a favorable prognosis for the control of CMV reactivation and prevention of CMV disease after hematoablative therapy of hematopoietic malignancies. In the transient immunocompromised state after HCT, pre-emptive cytoimmunotherapy with viral epitope-specific effector or memory CD8+ T cells is a promising option to speed up antiviral control. Despite high-coding capacity of CMVs and a broad CD8+ T-cell response on the population level, which reflects polymorphism in major histocompatibility complex class-I (MHC-I) glycoproteins, the response in terms of quantity of CD8+ T cells in any individual is directed against a limited set of CMV-encoded epitopes selected for presentation by the private repertoire of MHC-I molecules. Such epitopes are known as “immunodominant” epitopes (IDEs). Besides host immunogenetics, genetic variance in CMV strains harbored as latent viruses by an individual HCT recipient can also determine the set of IDEs, which complicates a “personalized immunotherapy.” It is, therefore, an important question if IDE-specific CD8+ T-cell reconstitution after HCT is critical or dispensable for antiviral control. As viruses with targeted mutations of IDEs cannot be experimentally tested in HCT patients, we employed the well-established mouse model of HCT. Notably, control of murine CMV (mCMV) after HCT was comparably efficient for IDE-deletion mutant mCMV-Δ4IDE and the corresponding IDE-expressing revertant virus mCMV-Δ4IDE-rev. Thus, antigenicity-loss mutations in IDEs do not result in loss-of-function of a polyclonal CD8+ T-cell population. Although IDE deletion was not associated with global changes in the response to non-IDE epitopes, the collective of non-IDE-specific CD8+ T-cells infiltrates infected tissue and confines infection within nodular inflammatory foci. We conclude from the model, and predict also for human CMV, that there is no need to exclusively aim for IDE-specific immunoreconstitution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafaela Holtappels
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz , Mainz , Germany
| | - Niels A W Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz , Mainz , Germany
| | - Jürgen Podlech
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz , Mainz , Germany
| | - Stefan Ebert
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz , Mainz , Germany
| | - Matthias J Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz , Mainz , Germany
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15
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Holtappels R, Podlech J, Lemmermann NAW, Schmitt E, Reddehase MJ. Non-cognate bystander cytolysis by clonal epitope-specific CTL lines through CD28-CD80 interaction inhibits antibody production: A potential caveat to CD8 T-cell immunotherapy. Cell Immunol 2016; 308:44-56. [PMID: 26717854 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2015.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2015] [Revised: 12/14/2015] [Accepted: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Adoptive transfer of virus epitope-specific CD8 T cells is an immunotherapy option to control cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and prevent CMV organ disease in immunocompromised solid organ transplantation (SOT) and hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) recipients. The therapy aims at an early, selective recognition and cytolysis of infected cells for preventing viral spread in tissues with no adverse immunopathogenic side-effects by attack of uninfected bystander cells. Here we describe that virus epitope-specific, cloned T-cell lines lyse target cells that present the cognate antigenic peptide to the TCR, but simultaneously have the potential to lyse uninfected cells expressing the CD28 ligand CD80 (B7-1). While TCR-mediated cytolysis requires co-receptor CD8 and depends on perforin, the TCR-independent and viral epitope-independent cytolysis through CD28-CD80 signaling does not require CD8 on the effector cells and is perforin-independent. Importantly, this non-cognate cytolysis pathway leads to bystander cytolysis of CD80-expressing B-cell blasts and thereby inhibits pan-specific antibody production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafaela Holtappels
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Jürgen Podlech
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Niels A W Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Edgar Schmitt
- Institute for Immunology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias J Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
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16
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Thomas S, Klobuch S, Podlech J, Plachter B, Hoffmann P, Renzaho A, Theobald M, Reddehase MJ, Herr W, Lemmermann NAW. Evaluating Human T-Cell Therapy of Cytomegalovirus Organ Disease in HLA-Transgenic Mice. PLoS Pathog 2015; 11:e1005049. [PMID: 26181057 PMCID: PMC4504510 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 06/25/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Reactivation of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can cause severe disease in recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although preclinical research in murine models as well as clinical trials have provided 'proof of concept' for infection control by pre-emptive CD8 T-cell immunotherapy, there exists no predictive model to experimentally evaluate parameters that determine antiviral efficacy of human T cells in terms of virus control in functional organs, prevention of organ disease, and host survival benefit. We here introduce a novel mouse model for testing HCMV epitope-specific human T cells. The HCMV UL83/pp65-derived NLV-peptide was presented by transgenic HLA-A2.1 in the context of a lethal infection of NOD/SCID/IL-2rg-/- mice with a chimeric murine CMV, mCMV-NLV. Scenarios of HCMV-seropositive and -seronegative human T-cell donors were modeled by testing peptide-restimulated and T-cell receptor-transduced human T cells, respectively. Upon transfer, the T cells infiltrated host tissues in an epitope-specific manner, confining the infection to nodular inflammatory foci. This resulted in a significant reduction of viral load, diminished organ pathology, and prolonged survival. The model has thus proven its potential for a preclinical testing of the protective antiviral efficacy of HCMV epitope-specific human T cells in the evaluation of new approaches to an immunotherapy of CMV disease. Pre-emptive CD8 T-cell therapy of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) disease in immunocompromised recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation gave promising results in clinical trials, but limited efficacy and the need of HCMV-seropositive memory cell donors has so far prevented adoptive cell transfer from becoming clinical routine. Further development is currently hampered by the lack of experimental animal models that allow preclinical testing of the protective efficacy of human T cells in functional organs. While humanized mouse models with human tissue implants are technically and statistically demanding, and are limited to studying human T-cell activation and local virus control in the implants, a more feasible model for control of systemic infection and prevention of multiple-organ CMV disease is regrettably missing. Here we introduce such a model based on infection of genetically immunocompromised, HLA-A2.1-transgenic NOD/SCID/IL-2rg-/- mice with a chimeric murine CMV engineered to express the HCMV NLV-peptide epitope. Mimicking the scenario of HCMV-unexperienced donors, human T cells transduced with a human T-cell receptor specific for HLA-A.2.1-presented NLV peptide controlled systemic infection and moderated organ disease resulting in a survival benefit. The model promises to become instrumental in defining T-cell properties that determine their protective efficacy for a further development of adoptive immunotherapy of post-transplantation CMV infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Thomas
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Regensburg Center of Interventional Immunology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Sebastian Klobuch
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Jürgen Podlech
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Bodo Plachter
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Petra Hoffmann
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Regensburg Center of Interventional Immunology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Angelique Renzaho
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias Theobald
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias J. Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Herr
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Regensburg Center of Interventional Immunology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Niels A. W. Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
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17
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Chan WL, Zhou A, Read RJ. Towards engineering hormone-binding globulins as drug delivery agents. PLoS One 2014; 9:e113402. [PMID: 25426859 PMCID: PMC4245140 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2014] [Accepted: 10/24/2014] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The treatment of many diseases such as cancer requires the use of drugs that can cause severe side effects. Off-target toxicity can often be reduced simply by directing the drugs specifically to sites of diseases. Amidst increasingly sophisticated methods of targeted drug delivery, we observed that Nature has already evolved elegant means of sending biological molecules to where they are needed. One such example is corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG), the major carrier of the anti-inflammatory hormone, cortisol. Targeted release of cortisol is triggered by cleavage of CBG's reactive centre loop by elastase, a protease released by neutrophils in inflamed tissues. This work aimed to establish the feasibility of exploiting this mechanism to carry therapeutic agents to defined locations. The reactive centre loop of CBG was altered with site-directed mutagenesis to favour cleavage by other proteases, to alter the sites at which it would release its cargo. Mutagenesis succeeded in making CBG a substrate for either prostate specific antigen (PSA), a prostate-specific serine protease, or thrombin, a key protease in the blood coagulation cascade. PSA is conspicuously overproduced in prostatic hyperplasia and is, therefore, a good way of targeting hyperplastic prostate tissues. Thrombin is released during clotting and consequently is ideal for conferring specificity to thrombotic sites. Using fluorescence-based titration assays, we also showed that CBG can be engineered to bind a new compound, thyroxine-6-carboxyfluorescein, instead of its physiological ligand, cortisol, thereby demonstrating that it is possible to tailor the hormone binding site to deliver a therapeutic drug. In addition, we proved that the efficiency with which CBG releases bound ligand can be increased by introducing some well-placed mutations. This proof-of-concept study has raised the prospect of a novel means of targeted drug delivery, using the serpin conformational change to combat the problem of off-target effects in the treatment of diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wee Lee Chan
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Aiwu Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis of Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Randy J. Read
- Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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18
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Ebert S, Becker M, Lemmermann NAW, Büttner JK, Michel A, Taube C, Podlech J, Böhm V, Freitag K, Thomas D, Holtappels R, Reddehase MJ, Stassen M. Mast cells expedite control of pulmonary murine cytomegalovirus infection by enhancing the recruitment of protective CD8 T cells to the lungs. PLoS Pathog 2014; 10:e1004100. [PMID: 24763809 PMCID: PMC3999167 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2013] [Accepted: 03/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The lungs are a noted predilection site of acute, latent, and reactivated cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections. Interstitial pneumonia is the most dreaded manifestation of CMV disease in the immunocompromised host, whereas in the immunocompetent host lung-infiltrating CD8 T cells confine the infection in nodular inflammatory foci and prevent viral pathology. By using murine CMV infection as a model, we provide evidence for a critical role of mast cells (MC) in the recruitment of protective CD8 T cells to the lungs. Systemic infection triggered degranulation selectively in infected MC. The viral activation of MC was associated with a wave of CC chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) in the serum of C57BL/6 mice that was MC-derived as verified by infection of MC-deficient KitW-sh/W-sh “sash” mutants. In these mutants, CD8 T cells were recruited less efficiently to the lungs, correlating with enhanced viral replication and delayed virus clearance. A causative role for MC was verified by MC reconstitution of “sash” mice restoring both, efficient CD8 T-cell recruitment and infection control. These results reveal a novel crosstalk axis between innate and adaptive immune defense against CMV, and identify MC as a hitherto unconsidered player in the immune surveillance at a relevant site of CMV disease. Being strategically located beneath endothelial and epithelial surfaces, mast cells (MC) serve as sentinels for invading pathogens at host-environment boundaries as part of the innate defense against infection. Host genetic resistance against cytomegaloviruses (CMV) is largely determined by the innate immune response, but an implication of MC in the adaptive immune defense against CMV has not been considered so far and is almost impossible to address in human infection. Using murine CMV as a model that in the past has already pioneered the discovery of fundamental principles in CMV-host interactions, our data reveal MC as central part of a novel crosstalk-axis between the innate and adaptive immune response to CMV. We found that upon host infection MC become rapidly activated and promote the recruitment of protective CD8 T cells to the lungs, a noted critical site of CMV pathogenesis in humans as well as in the mouse model. Enhanced tissue infiltration of CD8 T cells results in a reduced peak viral load and a faster clearance of productive infection. Realizing the importance of MC in the control of pulmonary CMV infection may help to develop new strategies for preventing CMV pneumonia by MC supplementation in recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Ebert
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Marc Becker
- Institute for Immunology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Niels A W Lemmermann
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Julia K Büttner
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Anastasija Michel
- Institute for Immunology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Christian Taube
- Department of Pulmonology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Jürgen Podlech
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Verena Böhm
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Kirsten Freitag
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Doris Thomas
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Rafaela Holtappels
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias J Reddehase
- Institute for Virology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Michael Stassen
- Institute for Immunology and Research Center for Immunology (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
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Noncanonical expression of a murine cytomegalovirus early protein CD8 T-cell epitope as an immediate early epitope based on transcription from an upstream gene. Viruses 2014; 6:808-31. [PMID: 24535000 PMCID: PMC3939483 DOI: 10.3390/v6020808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2013] [Revised: 01/17/2014] [Accepted: 01/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Viral CD8 T-cell epitopes, represented by viral peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex class-I (MHC-I) glycoproteins, are often identified by “reverse immunology”, a strategy not requiring biochemical and structural knowledge of the actual viral protein from which they are derived by antigen processing. Instead, bioinformatic algorithms predicting the probability of C-terminal cleavage in the proteasome, as well as binding affinity to the presenting MHC-I molecules, are applied to amino acid sequences deduced from predicted open reading frames (ORFs) based on the genomic sequence. If the protein corresponding to an antigenic ORF is known, it is usually inferred that the kinetic class of the protein also defines the phase in the viral replicative cycle during which the respective antigenic peptide is presented for recognition by CD8 T cells. We have previously identified a nonapeptide from the predicted ORFm164 of murine cytomegalovirus that is presented by the MHC-I allomorph H-2 Dd and that is immunodominant in BALB/c (H-2d haplotype) mice. Surprisingly, although the ORFm164 protein gp36.5 is expressed as an Early (E) phase protein, the m164 epitope is presented already during the Immediate Early (IE) phase, based on the expression of an upstream mRNA starting within ORFm167 and encompassing ORFm164.
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20
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Human CD8+ memory and EBV-specific T cells show low alloreactivity in vitro and in CD34+ stem cell-engrafted NOD/SCID/IL-2Rγc null mice. Exp Hematol 2013; 42:28-38.e1-2. [PMID: 24120693 DOI: 10.1016/j.exphem.2013.09.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2013] [Accepted: 09/26/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Current strategies in cellular immunotherapy of cancer and viral infections include the adoptive transfer of T cell receptor (TCR) and chimeric antigen receptor engineered T cells. When using transient RNA expression systems in clinical studies, multiple infusions with receptor-redirected T cells appear necessary. However, in allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, repeated transfer of donor-derived T cells increases the risk of alloreactive graft-versus-host disease. We investigated naive-derived (TN), memory-derived (TM), and Epstein Barr virus-specific (TEBV) CD8(+) T cell subsets for alloreactivity upon redirection with RNA encoding a cytomegalovirus-specific model TCR. We observed that alloreactivity to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched hematopoietic cells developed at much stronger levels in TN compared with TM or TEBV populations in cytokine-release and cytotoxicity assays. Cytomegalovirus-specific effector function was higher in TCR-transfected TEBV and TM over TN cells. To measure alloreactivity in vivo, we reconstituted NOD/SCID/IL-2Rγc(null) mice with human CD34(+) stem cells and adoptively transferred them with CD8(+) T cell subsets previously stimulated against cells of the HLA-mismatched stem-cell donor. TN cells showed a significant ability to eliminate CD34-derived hematopoietic cells, which was not found with TM and TEBV cells. This reduced alloreactive potential along with strong effector function upon receptor RNA engineering makes CD8(+) memory and EBV-specific T cells advantageous tools in adoptive immunotherapy after allogeneic transplantation.
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21
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Wohlford EM, Asito AS, Chelimo K, Sumba PO, Baresel PC, Oot RA, Moormann AM, Rochford R. Identification of a novel variant of LMP-1 of EBV in patients with endemic Burkitt lymphoma in western Kenya. Infect Agent Cancer 2013; 8:34. [PMID: 24016332 PMCID: PMC3847075 DOI: 10.1186/1750-9378-8-34] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2013] [Accepted: 05/09/2013] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is a gammaherpesvirus that is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL). EBV carries several latent genes that contribute to oncogenesis including the latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1), a known oncogene and constitutively active CD40 homolog. Variation in the C terminal region of LMP-1 has been linked to NPC pathogenesis, but little is known regarding LMP-1 variation and eBL. Results In the present study, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 38 eBL patients and 22 healthy controls in western Kenya, where the disease is endemic. The LMP-1 C-terminal region from these samples was sequenced and analyzed. The frequency of a 30 base pair deletion of LMP-1 previously linked to NPC was not associated with eBL compared to healthy controls. However a novel LMP-1 variant was identified, called K for Kenya and for the G318K mutation that characterizes it. The K variant LMP-1 was found in 40.5% of eBL sequences and 25.0% of healthy controls. All K variant sequences contained mutations in both of the previously described minimal T cell epitopes in the C terminal end of LMP-1. These mutations occurred in the anchor residue at the C-terminal binding groove of both epitopes, a pocket necessary for MHC loading. Conclusions Overall, our results suggest that there is a novel K variant of LMP-1 in Kenya that may be associated with eBL. Further studies are necessary to determine the functional implications of the LMP-1 variant on early events in eBL genesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric M Wohlford
- Center for Global Health and Translational Science, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
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Immune control in the absence of immunodominant epitopes: implications for immunotherapy of cytomegalovirus infection with antiviral CD8 T cells. Med Microbiol Immunol 2012; 201:541-50. [PMID: 22976556 DOI: 10.1007/s00430-012-0268-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2012] [Accepted: 08/25/2012] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Adoptive transfer of virus-specific donor-derived CD8 T cells is a therapeutic option to prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation. Due to their high coding capacity, human as well as animal CMVs have the potential to encode numerous CD8 T cell epitopes. Although the CD8 T cell response to CMVs is indeed broadly specific in that it involves epitopes derived from almost every open reading frame when tested for cohorts of immune CMV carriers representing the polymorphic MHC/HLA distribution in the population, the response in any one individual is directed against relatively few epitopes selected by the private combination of MHC/HLA alleles. Of this individually selected set of epitopes, few epitopes are 'immunodominant' in terms of magnitude of the response directed against them, while others are 'subdominant' according to this definition. In the assumption that 'immunodominance' indicates 'relevance' in antiviral control, research interest was focused on the immunodominant epitopes (IDEs) and their potential use in immunotherapy and in vaccines. The murine model has provided 'proof of concept' for the efficacy of CD8 T cell therapy of CMV infection. By experimental modulation of the CD8 T cell 'immunome' of murine CMV constructing an IDE deletion mutant, we have used this established cytoimmunotherapy model (a) for evaluating the actual contribution of IDEs to the control of infection and (b) for answering the question whether antigenicity-determining codon polymorphisms in IDE-encoding genes of CMV strains impact on the efficacy of CD8 T cell immunotherapy in case the donor and the recipient harbor different CMV strains.
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23
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Murine cytomegalovirus immune evasion proteins operative in the MHC class I pathway of antigen processing and presentation: state of knowledge, revisions, and questions. Med Microbiol Immunol 2012; 201:497-512. [PMID: 22961127 DOI: 10.1007/s00430-012-0257-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2012] [Accepted: 08/22/2012] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Medical interest in cytomegalovirus (CMV) is based on lifelong neurological sequelae, such as sensorineural hearing loss and mental retardation, resulting from congenital infection of the fetus in utero, as well as on CMV disease with multiple organ manifestations and graft loss in recipients of hematopoietic cell transplantation or solid organ transplantation. CMV infection of transplantation recipients occurs consequent to reactivation of virus harbored in a latent state in the transplanted donor cells and tissues, or in the tissues of the transplantation recipient herself or himself. Hence, CMV infection is a paradigm for a viral infection that causes disease primarily in the immunocompromised host, while infection of the immunocompetent host is associated with only mild and nonspecific symptoms so that it usually goes unnoticed. Thus, CMV is kept under strict immune surveillance. These medical facts are in apparent conflict with the notion that CMVs in general, human CMV as well as animal CMVs, are masters of 'immune evasion', which during virus-host co-speciation have convergently evolved sophisticated mechanisms to avoid their recognition by innate and adaptive immunity of their respective host species, with viral genes apparently dedicated to serve just this purpose (Reddehase in Nat Rev Immunol 2:831-844, 2002). With focus on viral interference with antigen presentation to CD8 T cells in the preclinical model of murine CMV infection, we try here to shed some more light on the in vivo balance between host immune surveillance of CMV infection and viral 'immune evasion' strategies.
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Seckert CK, Schader SI, Ebert S, Thomas D, Freitag K, Renzaho A, Podlech J, Reddehase MJ, Holtappels R. Antigen-presenting cells of haematopoietic origin prime cytomegalovirus-specific CD8 T-cells but are not sufficient for driving memory inflation during viral latency. J Gen Virol 2011; 92:1994-2005. [PMID: 21632567 DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.031815-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Expansion of the CD8 T-cell memory pool, also known as 'memory inflation', for certain but not all viral epitopes in latently infected host tissues is a special feature of the immune response to cytomegalovirus. The L(d)-presented murine cytomegalovirus (mCMV) immediate-early (IE) 1 peptide is the prototype of an epitope that is associated with memory inflation. Based on the detection of IE1 transcripts in latently infected lungs it was previously proposed that episodes of viral gene expression and antigenic activity due to desilencing of a limited number of viral genes may drive epitope-specific memory inflation. This would imply direct antigen presentation through latently infected host tissue cells rather than cell death-associated cross-presentation of viral antigens derived from productively infected cells through uninfected, professional antigen-presenting cells (profAPCs). To address the role of bone marrow-derived profAPCs in CD8 T-cell priming and memory to mCMV, we have used here a combined sex-mismatched and MHC class-I mismatched dual-marker bone marrow chimera model in which presentation of the IE1 epitope is restricted to donor-derived sry(+)L(d+) cells of haematopoietic differentiation lineages. Successful CD8 T-cell priming specific for the L(d)- and D(d)-presented inflationary epitopes IE1 and m164, respectively, but selective failure in IE1 epitope-specific memory inflation in these chimeras indicates different modes of antigen presentation involved in CD8 T-cell priming and memory inflation. These data suggest that memory inflation during mCMV latency requires expression of the epitope-presenting MHC class-I molecule by latently infected non-haematopoietic host tissue cells and thus predicts a role for direct antigen presentation in memory inflation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christof K Seckert
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Sina I Schader
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Stefan Ebert
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Doris Thomas
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Kirsten Freitag
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Angélique Renzaho
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Jürgen Podlech
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Matthias J Reddehase
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Rafaela Holtappels
- Institute for Virology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, Hochhaus am Augustusplatz, 55131 Mainz, Germany
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