Maria Rathmann Sørensen

MHC Class II-Associated Invariant Chain Linkage of Antigen Dramatically Improves Cell-Mediated Immunity Induced by Adenovirus Vaccines

The ideal vaccine induces a potent protective immune response, which should be rapidly induced, long-standing, and of broad specificity. Recombinant adenoviral vectors induce potent Ab and CD8+ T cell responses against transgenic Ags within weeks of administration, and they are among the most potent and versatile Ag delivery vehicles available. However, the impact of chronic infections like HIV and hepatitis C virus underscore the need for further improvements. In this study, we show that the protective immune response to an adenovirus-encoded vaccine Ag can be accelerated, enhanced, broadened, and prolonged by tethering of the rAg to the MHC class II-associated invariant chain (Ii). Thus, adenovirus-vectored vaccines expressing lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)-derived glycoprotein linked to Ii increased the CD4+ and CD8+ T cell stimulatory capacity in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, mice vaccinated with a single dose of adenovirus-expressing LCMV-derived glycoprotein linked to Ii were protected against lethal virus-induced choriomeningitis, lethal challenge with strains mutated in immunodominant T cell epitopes, and systemic infection with a highly invasive strain. In therapeutic tumor vaccination, the vaccine was as efficient as live LCMV. In comparison, animals vaccinated with a conventional adenovirus vaccine expressing unmodified glycoprotein were protected against systemic infection, but only temporarily against lethal choriomeningitis, and this vaccine was less efficient in tumor therapy.

Adenoviral vaccination combined with CD40 stimulation and CTLA-4 blockage can lead to complete tumor regression in a murine melanoma model.

Therapeutic vaccination with replication deficient adenovirus expressing a viral antigen linked to invariant chain was recently found to markedly delay the growth of B16.F10 melanomas expressing the same antigen; however, complete regression of the tumors was never observed. Here we show that the delay in tumor growth can be converted to complete regression and long-term survival in 30-40% of the mice by a booster vaccination plus combinational treatment with agonistic anti-CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) and anti-CTLA-4 mAb. Regarding the mechanism underlying the improved clinical effect, analysis of the tumor-specific response revealed a significantly prolonged tumor-specific CD8 T cell response in spleens of the mice receiving the combinational treatment compared with mice receiving either treatment individually. Matching this, CD8 T cell depletion completely prevented tumor control. These results indicate that even with a strong tumor vaccine candidate, combinatorial treatment may be required to obtain clinically relevant results.

Vaccination with an adenoviral vector encoding the tumor antigen directly linked to invariant chain induces potent CD4(+) T-cell-independent CD8(+) T-cell-mediated tumor control.

Antigen‐specific immunotherapy is an attractive strategy for cancer control. In the context of antiviral vaccines, adenoviral vectors have emerged as a favorable means for immunization. Therefore, we chose a strategy combining use of these vectors with another successful approach, namely linkage of the vaccine antigen to invariant chain (Ii). To evaluate this strategy we used a mouse model, in which an immunodominant epitope (GP33) of the LCMV glycoprotein (GP) represents the tumor‐associated neoantigen. Prophylactic vaccination of C57BL/6 mice with a replication‐deficient human adenovirus 5 vector encoding GP linked to Ii (Ad‐Ii‐GP) resulted in complete protection against GP33‐expressing B16.F10 tumors. Therapeutic vaccination with Ad‐Ii‐GP delayed tumor growth by more than 2 wk compared with sham vaccination. Notably, therapeutic vaccination with the linked vaccine was significantly better than vaccination with adenovirus expressing GP alone (Ad‐GP), or GP and Ii unlinked (Ad‐GP+Ii). Ad‐Ii‐GP‐ induced tumor control depended on an improved generation of the tumor‐associated neoantigen‐specific CD8+ T‐cell response and was independent of CD4+ T cells. IFN‐γ was shown to be a key player during the tumor degradation. Finally, Ad‐Ii‐GP but not Ad‐GP vaccination can break the immunological non‐reactivity in GP transgenic mice indicating that our vaccine strategy will prove efficient also against endogenous tumor antigens.

Fulminant Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus-Induced Inflammation of the CNS Involves a Cytokine-Chemokine-Cytokine-Chemokine Cascade

Intracerebral inoculation of immunocompetent mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) normally results in fatal CD8+ T cell mediated meningoencephalitis. However, in CXCL10-deficient mice, the virus-induced CD8+ T cell accumulation in the neural parenchyma is impaired, and only 30–50% of the mice succumb to the infection. Similar results are obtained in mice deficient in the matching chemokine receptor, CXCR3. Together, these findings point to a key role for CXCL10 in regulating the severity of the LCMV-induced inflammatory process. For this reason, we now address the mechanisms regulating the expression of CXCL10 in the CNS of LCMV-infected mice. Using mice deficient in type I IFN receptor, type II IFN receptor, or type II IFN, as well as bone marrow chimeras expressing CXCL10 only in resident cells or only in bone marrow-derived cells, we analyzed the up-stream regulation as well as the cellular source of CXCL10. We found that expression of CXCL10 initially depends on signaling through the type I IFN receptor, while late expression and up-regulation requires type II IFN produced by the recruited CD8+ T cells. Throughout the infection, the producers of CXCL10 are exclusively resident cells of the CNS, and astrocytes are the dominant expressors in the neural parenchyma, not microglial cells or recruited bone marrow-derived cell types. These results are consistent with a model suggesting a bidirectional interplay between resident cells of the CNS and the recruited virus-specific T cells with astrocytes as active participants in the local antiviral host response.

Delayed Contraction of the CD8+ T Cell Response toward Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Infection in Mice Lacking Serglycin

We previously reported that the lack of serglycin proteoglycan affects secretory granule morphology and granzyme B (GrB) storage in in vitro generated CTLs. In this study, the role of serglycin during viral infection was studied by infecting wild-type (wt) mice and serglycin-deficient (SG−/−) mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Wt and SG−/− mice cleared 103 PFU of highly invasive LCMV with the same kinetics, and the CD8+ T lymphocytes from wt and SG−/− animals did not differ in GrB, perforin, IFN-γ, or TNF-α content. However, when a less invasive LCMV strain was used, SG−/− GrB+ CD8+ T cells contained ∼30% less GrB than wt GrB+ CD8+ T cells. Interestingly, the contraction of the antiviral CD8+ T cell response to highly invasive LCMV was markedly delayed in SG−/− mice, and a delayed contraction of the virus-specific CD8+ T cell response was also seen after infection with vesicular stomatitis virus. BrdU labeling of cells in vivo revealed that the delayed contraction was associated with sustained proliferation of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells in SG−/− mice. Moreover, wt LCMV-specific CD8+ T cells from TCR318 transgenic mice expanded much more extensively in virus-infected SG−/− mice than in matched wt mice, indicating that the delayed contraction represents a T cell extrinsic phenomenon. In summary, the present report points to a novel, previously unrecognized role for serglycin proteoglycan in regulating the kinetics of antiviral CD8+ T cell responses.

Comparison of Vaccine-Induced Effector CD8 T Cell Responses Directed against Self- and Non–Self-Tumor Antigens: Implications for Cancer Immunotherapy

It is generally accepted that CD8 T cells play a major role in tumor control, yet vaccination aimed at eliciting potent CD8 T cell responses are rarely efficient in clinical trials. To try and understand why this is so, we have generated potent adenoviral vectors encoding the endogenous tumor Ags (TA) tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2) and glycoprotein 100 (GP100) tethered to the invariant chain (Ii). Using these vectors, we sought to characterize the self-TA–specific CD8 T cell response and compare it to that induced against non–self-Ags expressed from a similar vector platform. Prophylactic vaccination with adenoviral vectors expressing either TRP-2 (Ad-Ii-TRP-2) or GP100 (Ad-Ii-GP100) had little or no effect on the growth of s.c. B16 melanomas, and only Ad-Ii-TRP-2 was able to induce a marginal reduction of B16 lung metastasis. In contrast, vaccination with a similar vector construct expressing a foreign (viral) TA induced efficient tumor control. Analyzing the self-TA–specific CD8 T cells, we observed that these could be activated to produce IFN-γ and TNF-α. In addition, surface expression of phenotypic markers and inhibitory receptors, as well as in vivo cytotoxicity and degranulation capacity matched that of non–self-Ag–specific CD8 T cells. However, the CD8 T cells specific for self-TAs had a lower functional avidity, and this impacted on their in vivo performance. On the basis of these results and a low expression of the targeted TA epitopes on the tumor cells, we suggest that low avidity of the self-TA–specific CD8 T cells may represent a major obstacle for efficient immunotherapy of cancer.

Swine Leukocyte Antigen (SLA) class I allele typing of Danish swine herds and identification of commonly occurring haplotypes using sequence specific low and high resolution primers

The swine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genomic region (SLA) is extremely polymorphic comprising high numbers of different alleles, many encoding a distinct MHC class I molecule, which binds and presents endogenous peptides to circulating T cells of the immune system. Upon recognition of such peptide-MHC complexes (pMHC) naïve T cells can become activated and respond to a given pathogen leading to its elimination and the generation of memory cells. Hence SLA plays a crucial role in maintaining overall adaptive immunologic resistance to pathogens. Knowing which SLA alleles that are commonly occurring can be of great importance in regard to future vaccine development and the establishment of immune protection in swine through broad coverage, highly specific, subunit based vaccination against viruses such as swine influenza, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, foot-and-mouth-disease virus and others. Here we present the use of low- and high-resolution PCR-based typing methods to identify individual and commonly occurring SLA class I alleles in Danish swine. A total of 101 animals from seven different herds were tested, and by low resolution typing the top four most frequent SLA class I alleles were those of the allele groups SLA-3*04XX, SLA-1*08XX, SLA-2*02XX, and SLA-1*07XX, respectively. Customised high resolution primers were used to identify specific alleles within the above mentioned allele groups as well as within the SLA-2*05XX allele group. Our studies also suggest the most common haplotype in Danish pigs to be Lr-4.0 expressing the SLA-1*04XX, SLA-2*04XX, and SLA-3*04XX allele combination.

Virus‐based immunotherapy of cancer: what do we know and where are we going?

Raising an efficient and sustained immune response to a growing tumour is extremely challenging, as tumours not only lack the capacity to induce an environment optimal for induction of the relevant immune response, but also tend to promote the development of very efficient immunosuppressive mechanisms. This review aims to evaluate selected cancer vaccination approaches using virus‐based cancer vaccines. These seem promising based on their capacity to mimic natural infection and hence to efficiently trigger the innate immune system and in turn a potent cellular immune response towards the tumours. However, even when a potent immune response has been induced, this is often not sufficient to eliminate the tumour completely before the cancer cells have had time to evolve new escape mechanisms as a result of the selection pressure from the initial immune response directed towards them. Therefore, it is very likely that it is necessary to combine a therapeutic tumour vaccine with immunomodulating strategies in order to accomplish effective tumour degradation or at least to hinder metastasis. Some of the immunosuppressive mechanisms worth trying to manipulate will be discussed in this review.

Simultaneous Subcutaneous and Intranasal Administration of a CAF01-Adjuvanted Chlamydia Vaccine Elicits Elevated IgA and Protective Th1/Th17 Responses in the Genital Tract

The selection of any specific immunization route is critical when defining future vaccine strategies against a genital infection like Chlamydia trachomatis (C.t.). An optimal Chlamydia vaccine needs to elicit mucosal immunity comprising both neutralizing IgA/IgG antibodies and strong Th1/Th17 responses. A strategic tool to modulate this immune profile and mucosal localization of vaccine responses is to combine parenteral and mucosal immunizations routes. In this study, we investigate whether this strategy can be adapted into a two-visit strategy by simultaneous subcutaneous (SC) and nasal immunization. Using a subunit vaccine composed of C.t. antigens (Ags) adjuvanted with CAF01, a Th1/Th17 promoting adjuvant, we comparatively evaluated Ag-specific B and T cell responses and efficacy in mice following SC and simultaneous SC and nasal immunization (SIM). We found similar peripheral responses with regard to interferon gamma and IL-17 producing Ag-specific splenocytes and IgG serum levels in both vaccine strategies but in addition, the SIM protocol also led to Ag-specific IgA responses and increased B and CD4+ T cells in the lung parenchyma, and in lower numbers also in the genital tract (GT). Following vaginal infection with C.t., we observed that SIM immunization gave rise to an early IgA response and IgA-secreting plasma cells in the GT in contrast to SC immunization, but we were not able to detect more rapid recruitment of mucosal T cells. Interestingly, although SIM vaccination in general improved mucosal immunity we observed no improved efficacy against genital infection compared to SC, a finding that warrants for further investigation. In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel vaccination strategy that combines systemic and mucosal immunity in a two-visit strategy.

Quantification of B16 Melanoma Cells in Lungs Using Triplex Q-PCR - A New Approach to Evaluate Melanoma Cell Metastasis and Tumor Control

Skin cancer is the most common type of all cancers. However, it comprises several different types of cancers, one of which is malignant melanoma. Even though melanomas only make up about 5% of skin cancers, they are responsible for the majority of skin cancer deaths due to the poor chance of survival once the tumor has metastasized. In the present study, we have developed a new assay for quantitative analysis of B16 melanoma metastasis in the lungs. We have used a triplex Q-PCR to determine the expression of the melanoma genes GP100/Pmel and tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP-2), and found that B16.F10gp cells were detectable in the lungs as early as 2 hours after intravenous challenge with ≥104 tumor cells. When investigating the gene expression as a function of time, we observed a gradual decrease from 2–24 hours post tumor challenge followed by an increase of approximately 2 log10 on day 11. The early decrease was accelerated in the presence of activated NK cells. To further evaluate our assay, we also investigated the level of metastasis in the context of vaccination with replication defective adenoviral vectors, Ad-Ii-GP and Ad-GP, previously found to significantly delay the outgrowth of subcutaneous melanomas. Results obtained using Q-PCR were compared to conventional counting of metastatic foci under a dissection microscope. A marked reduction in gene expression was observed in the lungs after vaccination with both vectors; however, Ad-Ii-GP showed the highest protection, and matching results were obtained by enumeration of visible tumor nodules on the lung surfaces. Finally, we could show that inhibition of tumor metastasis required antigen-specific CD8 T cells and IFNγ, but not perforin. In conclusion, the presented results validate triplex Q-PCR as a fast, objective, and quantitative method for analysis of melanoma metastasis in the lungs.