Anuja Mathew

IFN-γ-Inducible Protein 10 (CXCL10) Contributes to Airway Hyperreactivity and Airway Inflammation in a Mouse Model of Asthma

Allergic asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by eosinophilic inflammation and airway hyper-reactivity. Cytokines and chemokines specific for Th2-type inflammation predominate in asthma and in animal models of this disease. The role of Th1-type inflammatory mediators in asthma remains controversial. IFN-γ-inducible protein 10 (IP-10; CXCL10) is an IFN-γ-inducible chemokine that preferentially attracts activated Th1 lymphocytes. IP-10 is up-regulated in the airways of asthmatics, but its function in asthma is unclear. To investigate the role of IP-10 in allergic airway disease, we examined the expression of IP-10 in a murine model of asthma and the effects of overexpression and deletion of IP-10 in this model using IP-10-transgenic and IP-10-deficient mice. Our experiments demonstrate that IP-10 is up-regulated in the lung after allergen challenge. Mice that overexpress IP-10 in the lung exhibited significantly increased airway hyperreactivity, eosinophilia, IL-4 levels, and CD8+ lymphocyte recruitment compared with wild-type controls. In addition, there was an increase in the percentage of IL-4-secreting T lymphocytes in the lungs of IP-10-transgenic mice. In contrast, mice deficient in IP-10 demonstrated the opposite results compared with wild-type controls, with a significant reduction in these measures of Th2-type allergic airway inflammation. Our results demonstrate that IP-10, a Th1-type chemokine, is up-regulated in allergic pulmonary inflammation and that this contributes to the airway hyperreactivity and Th2-type inflammation seen in this model of asthma.

Understanding the contribution of cellular immunity to dengue disease pathogenesis

Summary: Dengue viruses (DENV) are the mosquito‐borne viruses of greatest global public health importance. DENV circulate as four serotypes with significant immunologic cross‐reactivity that does not provide protection from secondary infection with heterologous serotypes. The strong association of severe dengue illness, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), with heterologous secondary infection and high cytokine levels has led to a prevailing view that DHF is immunologically mediated. In vitro studies of DENV‐specific T lymphocytes, clinical studies of acute DENV infection, and immunologic studies in mouse models have provided evidence that in heterologous secondary DENV infection, there is preferential activation of memory T lymphocytes with lower avidity for the infecting virus (‘original antigenic sin’) resulting in altered T‐cell functional responses. In the setting of host genetic predisposition and high level viremia, with resulting high antigenic burden, we postulate that a skewed T‐cell cytokine response leads to plasma leakage in DHF. A better understanding of the immune responses associated with increased or decreased risk for DHF will be of immense value for the clinical studies of candidate multivalent DENV vaccines anticipated to take place in the next several years.

Dengue Virus Infection and Virus-Specific HLA-A2 Restricted Immune Responses in Humanized NOD-scid IL2rγnull Mice

Background The lack of a suitable animal model to study viral and immunological mechanisms of human dengue disease has been a deterrent to dengue research. Methodology/Principal Findings We sought to establish an animal model for dengue virus (DENV) infection and immunity using non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency interleukin-2 receptor γ-chain knockout (NOD-scid IL2rγnull) mice engrafted with human hematopoietic stem cells. Human CD45+ cells in the bone marrow of engrafted mice were susceptible to in vitro infection using low passage clinical and established strains of DENV. Engrafted mice were infected with DENV type 2 by different routes and at multiple time points post infection, we detected DENV antigen and RNA in the sera, bone marrow, spleen and liver of infected engrafted mice. Anti-dengue IgM antibodies directed against the envelope protein of DENV peaked in the sera of mice at 1 week post infection. Human T cells that developed following engraftment of HLA-A2 transgenic NOD-scid IL2rγnull mice with HLA-A2+ human cord blood hematopoietic stem cells, were able to secrete IFN-γ, IL-2 and TNF-α in response to stimulation with three previously identified A2 restricted dengue peptides NS4b 2353(111–119), NS4b 2423(181–189), and NS4a 2148(56–64). Conclusions/Significance This is the first study to demonstrate infection of human cells and functional DENV-specific T cell responses in DENV-infected humanized mice. Overall, these mice should be a valuable tool to study the role of prior immunity on subsequent DENV infections.

Dominant recognition by human CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes of dengue virus nonstructural proteins NS3 and NS1.2a

A severe complication of dengue virus infection, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), is hypothesized to be immunologically mediated and virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) may trigger DHF. It is also likely that dengue virus-specific CTLs are important for recovery from dengue virus infections. There is little available information on the human CD8+ T cell responses to dengue viruses. Memory CD8+CTL responses were analyzed to determine the diversity of the T cell response to dengue virus and to identify immunodominant proteins using PBMC from eight healthy adult volunteers who had received monovalent, live-attenuated candidate vaccines of the four dengue serotypes. All the donors had specific T cell proliferation to dengue and to other flaviviruses that we tested. CTLs were generated from the stimulated PBMC of all donors, and in the seven donors tested, dengue virus-specific CD8+CTL activity was demonstrated. The nonstructural (NS3 and NS1.2a) and envelope (E) proteins were recognized by CD8+CTLs from six, five, and three donors, respectively. All donors recognized either NS3 or NS1.2a. In one donor who received a dengue 4 vaccine, CTL killing was seen in bulk culture against the premembrane protein (prM). This is the first demonstration of a CTL response against the prM protein. The CTL responses using the PBMC of two donors were serotype specific, whereas all other donors had serotype-cross-reactive responses. For one donor, CTLs specific for E, NS1.2a, and NS3 proteins were all HLA-B44 restricted. For three other donors tested, the potential restricting alleles for recognition of NS3 were B38, A24, and/or B62 and B35. These results indicate that the CD8+CTL responses of humans after immunization with one serotype of dengue virus are diverse and directed against a variety of proteins. The NS3 and NS1.2a proteins should be considered when designing subunit vaccines for dengue.

Intracellular Cytokine Production by Dengue Virus–specific T cells Correlates with Subclinical Secondary Infection

The pathophysiology of dengue virus infection remains poorly understood, although secondary infection is strongly associated with more severe disease. In the present study, we performed a nested, case-control study comparing the responses of pre-illness peripheral blood mononuclear cells between children who would subsequently develop either subclinical or symptomatic secondary infection 6-11 months after the baseline blood samples were obtained and frozen. We analyzed intracellular cytokine production by CD4(+) and CD8(+) cells in response to stimulation with dengue antigen. We found higher frequencies of dengue virus-specific TNFα, IFNγ-, and IL-2-producing T cells among schoolchildren who subsequently developed subclinical infection, compared with those who developed symptomatic secondary dengue virus infection. Although other studies have correlated immune responses during secondary infection with severity of disease, to our knowledge this is the first study to demonstrate a pre-infection dengue-specific immune response that correlates specifically with a subclinical secondary infection.

Cross-Reactive Memory CD8+ T Cells Alter the Immune Response to Heterologous Secondary Dengue Virus Infections in Mice in a Sequence-Specific Manner

Dengue virus is the causative agent of dengue fever and the more-severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). Human studies suggest that the increased risk of DHF during secondary infection is due to immunopathology partially mediated by cross-reactive memory T cells from the primary infection. To model T cell responses to sequential infections, we immunized mice with different sequences of dengue virus serotypes and measured the frequency of peptide-specific T cells after infection. The acute response after heterologous secondary infections was enhanced compared with the acute or memory response after primary infection. Also, the hierarchy of epitope-specific responses was influenced by the specific sequence of infection. Adoptive-transfer experiments showed that memory T cells responded preferentially to the secondary infection. These findings demonstrate that cross-reactive T cells from a primary infection alter the immune response during a heterologous secondary infection.

Enhanced humoral and HLA‐A2‐restricted dengue virus‐specific T‐cell responses in humanized BLT NSG mice

Dengue is a mosquito‐borne viral disease of humans, and animal models that recapitulate human immune responses or dengue pathogenesis are needed to understand the pathogenesis of the disease. We recently described an animal model for dengue virus (DENV) infection using humanized NOD‐scid IL2rγnull mice (NSG) engrafted with cord blood haematopoietic stem cells. We sought to further improve this model by co‐transplantation of human fetal thymus and liver tissues into NSG (BLT‐NSG) mice. Enhanced DENV‐specific antibody titres were found in the sera of BLT‐NSG mice compared with human cord blood haematopoietic stem cell‐engrafted NSG mice. Furthermore, B cells generated during the acute phase and in memory from splenocytes of immunized BLT‐NSG mice secreted DENV‐specific IgM antibodies with neutralizing activity. Human T cells in engrafted BLT‐NSG mice secreted interferon‐γ in response to overlapping DENV peptide pools and HLA‐A2 restricted peptides. The BLT‐NSG mice will allow assessment of human immune responses to DENV vaccines and the effects of previous immunity on subsequent DENV infections.

B-Cell Responses During Primary and Secondary Dengue Virus Infections in Humans

Low-avidity serotype-cross-reactive antibodies are hypothesized to play a key role in triggering severe disease in patients with secondary dengue virus (DENV) infection. However, there is little systematic information about the frequency, avidity, and cross-reactivity of DENV-specific B cells in individuals experiencing primary instead of secondary infection. We compared DENV-specific B-cell responses in a cohort of Thai children with primary or secondary DENV infection. B cells specific for DENV precursor membrane protein, envelope (E) protein, and nonstructural protein 1 were detectable in immune peripheral blood mononuclear cells with the highest frequencies of DENV E-specific B cells detected in patients experiencing primary DENV-1 infections. DENV E-specific B cells were highly serotype-specific after primary DENV infections, whereas most E-specific B cells in patients with secondary infection were serotype-cross-reactive and secreted antibodies with higher avidity to heterologous DENV serotypes. Our data suggest that the minor populations of serotype-cross-reactive B cells generated by primary DENV infection are preferentially expanded during secondary DENV infection.

Identification of murine poxvirus-specific CD8+ CTL epitopes with distinct functional profiles

Murine T cell epitopes against vaccinia virus (VV) have not been characterized to date in part due to the large and complex genome of VV. We have identified and characterized two CD8+ T cell epitopes on the A47L (modified VV Ankara strain (MVA)-029) and J6R (MVA-043) proteins of VV that are Db and Kb restricted, respectively. Following i.p. immunization with VV New York City Board of Health (NYCBH) strain, MVA-029 peptide-stimulated splenocytes secreted IFN-γ from 7 days to 7 mo postimmunization, and virus-stimulated effectors were also able to lyse MVA-029-pulsed target cells at the same time points. In contrast, MVA-043 peptide-stimulated splenocytes secreted very low levels of IFN-γ only at day 7 but maintained the ability to lyse target cells up to 2 mo postimmunization. Both MVA-029 and MVA-043 peptide-stimulated lymph node cells degranulated similarly as assessed by Ag-induced CD107 expression. T cell responses to whole-virus stimulation remained robust and steady during the acute and memory T cell response to VV. Identification of T cell epitopes on VV will enable further studies to increase our understanding of the role of CD8+ T cells in VV infection and assist in the design of new protective strategies.

Cross-reactivity and expansion of dengue-specific T cells during acute primary and secondary infections in humans

Serotype-cross-reactive memory T cells responding to secondary dengue virus (DENV) infection are thought to contribute to disease. However, epitope-specific T cell responses have not been thoroughly compared between subjects with primary versus secondary DENV infection. We studied CD8+ T cells specific for the HLA-A*1101-restricted NS3133 epitope in a cohort of A11+ DENV-infected patients throughout acute illness and convalescence. We compared the expansion, serotype-cross-reactivity, and activation of these cells in PBMC from patients experiencing primary or secondary infection and mild or severe disease by flow cytometry. Our results show expansion and activation of DENV-specific CD8+ T cells during acute infection, which are predominantly serotype-cross-reactive regardless of DENV infection history. These data confirm marked T cell activation and serotype-cross-reactivity during the febrile phase of dengue; however, A11-NS3133-specific responses did not correlate with prior antigenic exposure or current disease severity.