1
|
Currenti J, Simmons J, Oakes J, Gaudieri S, Warren CM, Gangula R, Alves E, Ram R, Leary S, Armitage JD, Smith RM, Chopra A, Halasa NB, Pilkinton MA, Kalams SA. Tracking of activated cTfh cells following sequential influenza vaccinations reveals transcriptional profile of clonotypes driving a vaccine-induced immune response. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1133781. [PMID: 37063867 PMCID: PMC10095155 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1133781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction A vaccine against influenza is available seasonally but is not 100% effective. A predictor of successful seroconversion in adults is an increase in activated circulating T follicular helper (cTfh) cells after vaccination. However, the impact of repeated annual vaccinations on long-term protection and seasonal vaccine efficacy remains unclear. Methods In this study, we examined the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire and transcriptional profile of vaccine-induced expanded cTfh cells in individuals who received sequential seasonal influenza vaccines. We measured the magnitude of cTfh and plasmablast cell activation from day 0 (d0) to d7 post-vaccination as an indicator of a vaccine response. To assess TCR diversity and T cell expansion we sorted activated and resting cTfh cells at d0 and d7 post-vaccination and performed TCR sequencing. We also single cell sorted activated and resting cTfh cells for TCR analysis and transcriptome sequencing. Results and discussion The percent of activated cTfh cells significantly increased from d0 to d7 in each of the 2016-17 (p < 0.0001) and 2017-18 (p = 0.015) vaccine seasons with the magnitude of cTfh activation increase positively correlated with the frequency of circulating plasmablast cells in the 2016-17 (p = 0.0001) and 2017-18 (p = 0.003) seasons. At d7 post-vaccination, higher magnitudes of cTfh activation were associated with increased clonality of cTfh TCR repertoire. The TCRs from vaccine-expanded clonotypes were identified and tracked longitudinally with several TCRs found to be present in both years. The transcriptomic profile of these expanded cTfh cells at the single cell level demonstrated overrepresentation of transcripts of genes involved in the type-I interferon pathway, pathways involved in gene expression, and antigen presentation and recognition. These results identify the expansion and transcriptomic profile of vaccine-induced cTfh cells important for B cell help.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Currenti
- School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Joshua Simmons
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Jared Oakes
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Silvana Gaudieri
- School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
| | - Christian M. Warren
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Rama Gangula
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Eric Alves
- School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Ramesh Ram
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
| | - Shay Leary
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
| | - Jesse D. Armitage
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia
| | - Rita M. Smith
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Abha Chopra
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
| | - Natasha B. Halasa
- Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Mark A. Pilkinton
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Spyros A. Kalams
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Files JK, Sterrett S, Henostroza S, Fucile C, Maroney K, Fram T, Mallal S, Kalams S, Carlson J, Rosenberg A, Erdmann N, Bansal A, Goepfert PA. HLA-II-Associated HIV-1 Adaptation Decreases CD4 + T-Cell Responses in HIV-1 Vaccine Recipients. J Virol 2022; 96:e0119122. [PMID: 36000845 PMCID: PMC9472760 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01191-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Epitopes with evidence of HLA-II-associated adaptation induce poorly immunogenic CD4+ T-cell responses in HIV-positive (HIV+) individuals. Many such escaped CD4+ T-cell epitopes are encoded by HIV-1 vaccines being evaluated in clinical trials. Here, we assessed whether this viral adaptation adversely impacts CD4+ T-cell responses following HIV-1 vaccination, thereby representing escaped epitopes. When evaluated in separate peptide pools, vaccine-encoded adapted epitopes (AE) induced CD4+ T-cell responses less frequently than nonadapted epitopes (NAE). We also demonstrated that in a polyvalent vaccine, where both forms of the same epitope were encoded, AE were less immunogenic. NAE-specific CD4+ T cells had increased, albeit low, levels of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) cytokine production. Single-cell transcriptomic analyses showed that NAE-specific CD4+ T cells expressed interferon-related genes, while AE-specific CD4+ T cells resembled a Th2 phenotype. Importantly, the magnitude of NAE-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, but not that of AE-specific responses, was found to positively correlate with Env-specific antibodies in a vaccine efficacy trial. Together, these findings show that HLA-II-associated viral adaptation reduces CD4+ T-cell responses in HIV-1 vaccine recipients and suggest that vaccines encoding a significant number of AE may not provide optimal B-cell help for HIV-specific antibody production. IMPORTANCE Despite decades of research, an effective HIV-1 vaccine remains elusive. Vaccine strategies leading to the generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies are likely needed to provide the best opportunity of generating a protective immune response against HIV-1. Numerous studies have demonstrated that T-cell help is necessary for effective antibody generation. However, immunogen sequences from recent HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trials include CD4+ T-cell epitopes that have evidence of immune escape. Our study shows that these epitopes, termed adapted epitopes, elicit lower frequencies of CD4+ T-cell responses in recipients from multiple HIV-1 vaccine trials. Additionally, the counterparts to these epitopes, termed nonadapted epitopes, elicited CD4+ T-cell responses that correlated with Env-specific antibodies in one efficacy trial. These results suggest that vaccine-encoded adapted epitopes dampen CD4+ T-cell responses, potentially impacting both HIV-specific antibody production and efficacious vaccine efforts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jacob K. Files
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Sarah Sterrett
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Sebastian Henostroza
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Christopher Fucile
- Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Kevin Maroney
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Tim Fram
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Simon Mallal
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Spyros Kalams
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | | | - Alexander Rosenberg
- Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Nathan Erdmann
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Anju Bansal
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Paul A. Goepfert
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| |
Collapse
|