scholarly journals The Unknown Unknowns: Recovering Gamma-Delta T Cells for Control of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1455
Author(s):  
Shivkumar Biradar ◽  
Michael T. Lotze ◽  
Robbie B. Mailliard

Recent advances in γδ T cell biology have focused on the unique attributes of these cells and their role in regulating innate and adaptive immunity, promoting tissue homeostasis, and providing resistance to various disorders. Numerous bacterial and viral pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV), greatly alter the composition of γδ T cells in vivo. Despite the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in controlling HIV and restoring health in those affected, γδ T cells are dramatically impacted during HIV infection and fail to reconstitute to normal levels in HIV-infected individuals during ART for reasons that are not clearly understood. Importantly, their role in controlling HIV infection, and the implications of their failure to rebound during ART are also largely unknown and understudied. Here, we review important aspects of human γδ T cell biology, the effector and immunomodulatory properties of these cells, their prevalence and function in HIV, and their immunotherapeutic potential.

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 1039-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Vantourout ◽  
Adam Laing ◽  
Martin J. Woodward ◽  
Iva Zlatareva ◽  
Luis Apolonia ◽  
...  

The long-held view that gamma delta (γδ) T cells in mice and humans are fundamentally dissimilar, as are γδ cells in blood and peripheral tissues, has been challenged by emerging evidence of the cells’ regulation by butyrophilin (BTN) and butyrophilin-like (BTNL) molecules. Thus, murine Btnl1 and the related gene, Skint1, mediate T cell receptor (TCR)-dependent selection of murine intraepithelial γδ T cell repertoires in gut and skin, respectively; BTNL3 and BTNL8 are TCR-dependent regulators of human gut γδ cells; and BTN3A1 is essential for TCR-dependent activation of human peripheral blood Vγ9Vδ2+ T cells. However, some observations concerning BTN/Btnl molecules continue to question the extent of mechanistic conservation. In particular, murine and human gut γδ cell regulation depends on pairings of Btnl1 and Btnl6 and BTNL3 and BTNL8, respectively, whereas blood γδ cells are reported to be regulated by BTN3A1 independent of other BTNs. Addressing this paradox, we show that BTN3A2 regulates the subcellular localization of BTN3A1, including functionally important associations with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and is specifically required for optimal BTN3A1-mediated activation of Vγ9Vδ2+ T cells. Evidence that BTNL3/BTNL8 and Btnl1/Btnl6 likewise associate with the ER reinforces the prospect of broadly conserved mechanisms underpinning the selection and activation of γδ cells in mice and humans, and in blood and extralymphoid sites.


2007 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 1155-1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Kosub ◽  
Ginger Lehrman ◽  
Jeffrey M. Milush ◽  
Dejiang Zhou ◽  
Elizabeth Chacko ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to functionally assess gamma/delta (γδ) T cells following pathogenic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of humans and nonpathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of sooty mangabeys. γδ T cells were obtained from peripheral blood samples from patients and sooty mangabeys that exhibited either a CD4-healthy (>200 CD4+ T cells/μl blood) or CD4-low (<200 CD4 cells/μl blood) phenotype. Cytokine flow cytometry was utilized to assess production of Th1 cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha and gamma interferon following ex vivo stimulation with either phorbol myristate acetate/ionomycin or the Vδ2 γδ T-cell receptor agonist isopentenyl pyrophosphate. Sooty mangabeys were observed to have higher percentages of γδ T cells in their peripheral blood than humans did. Following stimulation, γδ T cells from SIV-positive (SIV+) mangabeys maintained or increased their ability to express the Th1 cytokines regardless of CD4+ T-cell levels. In contrast, HIV-positive (HIV+) patients exhibited a decreased percentage of γδ T cells expressing Th1 cytokines following stimulation. This dysfunction is primarily within the Vδ2+ γδ T-cell subset which incurred both a decreased overall level in the blood and a reduced Th1 cytokine production. Patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy exhibited a partial restoration in their γδ T-cell Th1 cytokine response that was intermediate between the responses of the uninfected and HIV+ patients. The SIV+ sooty mangabey natural hosts, which do not proceed to clinical AIDS, provide evidence that γδ T-cell dysfunction occurs in HIV+ patients and may contribute to HIV disease progression.


2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (10) ◽  
pp. 5244-5257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoduan Weng ◽  
Elena Priceputu ◽  
Pavel Chrobak ◽  
Johanne Poudrier ◽  
Denis G. Kay ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The cellular and molecular mechanisms of dysfunction and depletion of CD4+ T lymphocytes over the course of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection are still incompletely understood, but chronic immune activation is thought to play an important role in disease progression. We studied CD4+ T-cell biology in CD4C/HIV transgenic (Tg) mice, in which Nef expression is sufficient to induce a severe AIDS-like disease including a preferential decrease of CD4+ T cells. We show here that Nef-expressing Tg CD4+ T cells exhibit an activated/memory-like phenotype which appears to be independent of antigenic stimulation, as documented in experiments involving breeding with AD10 TcR Tg mice. In addition, in vivo bromodeoxyuridine incorporation showed that a larger proportion of Tg than non-Tg CD4+ T cells entered the S phase. However, in vitro, Tg CD4+ T cells were found to have a very limited capacity to divide in response to stimulation with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 or in allogeneic mixed leukocyte reactions. Interestingly, despite these observations, the deletion of Tg CD4+ T cells had little impact on the development of other AIDS-like organ phenotypes. Thus, the Nef-induced chronic activation of CD4+ T cells may exhaust the T-cell pool and may contribute to the thymic atrophy and the low number of CD4+ T cells observed in these Tg mice.


Blood ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 200-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Wilhelm ◽  
Volker Kunzmann ◽  
Susanne Eckstein ◽  
Peter Reimer ◽  
Florian Weissinger ◽  
...  

Abstract There is increasing evidence that γδ T cells have potent innate antitumor activity. We described previously that synthetic aminobisphosphonates are potent γδ T cell stimulatory compounds that induce cytokine secretion (ie, interferon γ [IFN-γ]) and cell-mediated cytotoxicity against lymphoma and myeloma cell lines in vitro. To evaluate the antitumor activity of γδ T cells in vivo, we initiated a pilot study of low-dose interleukin 2 (IL-2) in combination with pamidronate in 19 patients with relapsed/refractory low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) or multiple myeloma (MM). The objectives of this trial were to determine toxicity, the most effective dose for in vivo activation/proliferation of γδ T cells, and antilymphoma efficacy of the combination of pamidronate and IL-2. The first 10 patients (cohort A) who entered the study received 90 mg pamidronate intravenously on day 1 followed by increasing dose levels of continuous 24-hour intravenous (IV) infusions of IL-2 (0.25 to 3 × 106 IU/m2) from day 3 to day 8. Even at the highest IL-2 dose level in vivo, γδ T-cell activation/proliferation and response to treatment were disappointing with only 1 patient achieving stable disease. Therefore, the next 9 patients were selected by positive in vitro proliferation of γδ T cells in response to pamidronate/IL-2 and received a modified treatment schedule (6-hour bolus IV IL-2 infusions from day 1-6). In this patient group (cohort B), significant in vivo activation/proliferation of γδ T cells was observed in 5 patients (55%), and objective responses (PR) were achieved in 3 patients (33%). Only patients with significant in vivo proliferation of γδ T cells responded to treatment, indicating that γδ T cells might contribute to this antilymphoma effect. Overall, administration of pamidronate and low-dose IL-2 was well tolerated. In conclusion, this clinical trial demonstrates, for the first time, that γδ T-cell–mediated immunotherapy is feasible and can induce objective tumor responses. (Blood. 2003;102:200-206)


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 3195-3199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Daniel Lelièvre ◽  
Frédéric Petit ◽  
Damien Arnoult ◽  
Jean-Claude Ameisen ◽  
Jérôme Estaquier

ABSTRACT Fas-mediated T-cell death is known to occur during human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. In this study, we found that HIV type 1 LAI (HIV-1LAI) primes CD8+ T cells from healthy donors for apoptosis, which occurs after Fas ligation. This effect is counteracted by a broad caspase inhibitor (zVAD-fmk). Fas-mediated cell death does not depend on CD8+ T-cell infection, because it occurred in the presence of reverse transcriptase inhibitors. However, purified CD8+ T cells are sensitive to Fas only in the presence of soluble CD4. Finally, we found that interleukin 7 (IL-7) increases Fas-mediated CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell death induced by HIV-1LAI. Since high levels of IL-7 are a marker of poor prognosis during HIV infection, our data suggest that enhancement of Fas-mediated T-cell death by HIV-1LAI and IL-7 is one of the mechanisms involved in progression to AIDS.


1994 ◽  
Vol 179 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Dadaglio ◽  
S Garcia ◽  
L Montagnier ◽  
M L Gougeon

We have analyzed the V beta usage by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals in response to an in vitro stimulation with the superantigenic erythrogenic toxin A (ETA) of Streptococcus pyogenes. ETA amplifies specifically CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from control donors expressing the V beta 8 and the V beta 12 elements. When peripheral T cells from asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals were stimulated with ETA, there was a complete lack of activation of the V beta 8+ T cell subset, whereas the V beta 12+ T cell subset responded normally to the superantigen. This V beta-specific anergy, which was also observed in response to staphylococcal enterotoxin E (SEE), affected both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and represented an intrinsic functional defect rather than a specific lack of response to bacterial superantigens since it was also observed after a stimulation with V beta 8 monoclonal antibodies. The V beta 8 anergic T cells did not express interleukin 2 receptors (IL-2Rs) and failed to proliferate in response to exogenous IL-2 or IL-4, suggesting that this anergy was not a reversible process, at least by the use of these cytokines. The unresponsiveness of the V beta 8 T cell subset is frequent since it was found in 56% of the patients studied, and comparison of the clinical status of responder vs. anergic patients indicated that the only known common factor between them was HIV infection. In addition, it is noteworthy that the anergy of the V beta 8 subset may be a very early phenomenon since it was found in a patient at Centers for Disease Control stage I of the disease. These data provide evidence that a dominant superantigen may be involved in the course of HIV infection and that the contribution of HIV has to be considered.


2001 ◽  
Vol 194 (10) ◽  
pp. 1473-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Ferrero ◽  
Anne Wilson ◽  
Friedrich Beermann ◽  
Werner Held ◽  
H. Robson MacDonald

A particular feature of γδ T cell biology is that cells expressing T cell receptor (TCR) using specific Vγ/Vδ segments are localized in distinct epithelial sites, e.g., in mouse epidermis nearly all γδ T cells express Vγ3/Vδ1. These cells, referred to as dendritic epidermal T cells (DETC) originate from fetal Vγ3+ thymocytes. The role of γδ TCR specificity in DETC's migration/localization to the skin has remained controversial. To address this issue we have generated transgenic (Tg) mice expressing a TCR δ chain (Vδ6.3-Dδ1-Dδ2-Jδ1-Cδ), which can pair with Vγ3 in fetal thymocytes but is not normally expressed by DETC. In wild-type (wt) Vδ6.3Tg mice DETC were present and virtually all of them express Vδ6.3. However, DETC were absent in TCR-δ−/− Vδ6.3Tg mice, despite the fact that Vδ6.3Tg γδ T cells were present in normal numbers in other lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues. In wt Vδ6.3Tg mice, a high proportion of in-frame Vδ1 transcripts were found in DETC, suggesting that the expression of an endogenous TCR-δ (most probably Vδ1) was required for the development of Vδ6.3+ epidermal γδ T cells. Collectively our data demonstrate that TCR specificity is essential for the development of γδ T cells in the epidermis. Moreover, they show that the TCR-δ locus is not allelically excluded.


1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 2369-2374 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Ruxrungtham ◽  
E Boone ◽  
H Ford ◽  
J S Driscoll ◽  
R T Davey ◽  
...  

A new antiretroviral agent, 2'-beta-fluoro-2',3'-dideoxyadenosine (FddA), is an acid-stable compound whose triphosphate form is a potent reverse transcriptase inhibitor with in vitro anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity and a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice reconstituted with human peripheral blood leukocytes (hu-PBL-SCID mice) provide a useful small-animal model for HIV research. In the present study we utilized this experimental system for the in vivo evaluation of the anti-HIV activity of this new compound when administered prior to infection. Initial studies revealed that, following a challenge with 50 100% tissue culture infective doses of HIV type 1 lymphadenopathy-associated virus, 39 of 42 (93%) control mice developed HIV infection, as evidenced by positive coculture or positive PCR. Administration of zidovudine decreased the infection rate to 5 of 16 (31%), while administration of FddA decreased the infection rate to 0 of 44 (0%). In follow-up controlled studies, the anti-HIV activity of FddA was confirmed, with 18 of 20 control mice showing evidence of HIV infection, compared with 4 of 20 FddA-treated mice. In addition to having direct anti-HIV effects, FddA was found to have a protective effect on human CD4+ T cells in the face of HIV infection. Mice treated with FddA were found to have a significantly higher percentage of CD4+ T cells than controls (10.3% +/- 3.4% versus 0.27% +/- 0.21%; P = 0.01). Thus, FddA, with its potent anti-HIV activity in vivo, high oral bioavailability, long intracellular half-life, and ability to preserve CD4+ cells in the presence of HIV, appears to be a promising agent for clinical investigation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (16) ◽  
pp. 8236-8247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moraima Guadalupe ◽  
Sumathi Sankaran ◽  
Michael D. George ◽  
Elizabeth Reay ◽  
David Verhoeven ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Although the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) is an important early site for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication and severe CD4+ T-cell depletion, our understanding is limited about the restoration of the gut mucosal immune system during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We evaluated the kinetics of viral suppression, CD4+ T-cell restoration, gene expression, and HIV-specific CD8+ T-cell responses in longitudinal gastrointestinal biopsy and peripheral blood samples from patients initiating HAART during primary HIV infection (PHI) or chronic HIV infection (CHI) using flow cytometry, real-time PCR, and DNA microarray analysis. Viral suppression was more effective in GALT of PHI patients than CHI patients during HAART. Mucosal CD4+ T-cell restoration was delayed compared to peripheral blood and independent of the time of HAART initiation. Immunophenotypic analysis showed that repopulating mucosal CD4+ T cells were predominantly of a memory phenotype and expressed CD11α, αEβ7, CCR5, and CXCR4. Incomplete suppression of viral replication in GALT during HAART correlated with increased HIV-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. DNA microarray analysis revealed that genes involved in inflammation and cell activation were up regulated in patients who did not replenish mucosal CD4+ T cells efficiently, while expression of genes involved in growth and repair was increased in patients with efficient mucosal CD4+ T-cell restoration. Our findings suggest that the discordance in CD4+ T-cell restoration between GALT and peripheral blood during therapy can be attributed to the incomplete viral suppression and increased immune activation and inflammation that may prevent restoration of CD4+ T cells and the gut microenvironment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A761-A761
Author(s):  
Ryan Reyes ◽  
Yilun Deng ◽  
Deyi Zhang ◽  
Niannian Ji ◽  
Neelam Mukherjee ◽  
...  

BackgroundαPD-L1 bladder cancer (BC) immunotherapy is effective in <30% of cases.1 To address the large αPD-L1-unresponsive subset of patients, we tested αIL-2/IL-2 complexes (IL-2c) that block IL-2 from binding high-affinity IL-2Rα (CD25) for preferential IL-2Rβ (CD122) binding.2 Immunosuppressive regulatory T cells capture IL-2 by CD25 whereas antitumor CD8+ T, γδ T, and NK cells use CD122. We hypothesized that the tumor microenvironment, including local immune cells in primary versus metastatic BC, differentially affects immunotherapy responses and that IL-2c effects could differ from, and thus complement αPD-L1.MethodsWe used PD-L1+ mouse BC cell lines MB49 and MBT-2, for orthotopic, intravesical (i.e., in bladder) and intravenous challenge studies of local versus lung metastatic BC.ResultsαPD-L1 or IL-2c alone reduced tumor burden and extended survival in local MB49 and MBT-2. Using in vivo cell depletions, we found that γδ T cells and NK cells, but strikingly not CD8+ T cells, were necessary for IL-2c efficacy in bladder. We confirmed γδ T cell requirements for IL-2c, but not αPD-L1 efficacy in γδ T cell-null TCRδKO mice. TCRβKO conventional T cell-null mice exhibited IL-2c, but not αPD-L1 responsiveness for orthotopic BC treatment. Neither agent alone treated lung metastatic MB49 or MBT-2 but the drug combination improved survival in both tumor models. Combination treatment effects in lungs were distinct from bladder, requiring CD8+ T and NK cells, but not γδ T cells.ConclusionsBC immunotherapy effects differ by anatomic compartment and use distinct mechanisms to treat primary and metastatic BC. CD122-directed IL-2 is a promising BC immunotherapy strategy, and IL-2c is a candidate mediator through innate immune effects. αPD-L1 could improve IL-2c efficacy by engagement of adaptive immune responses including to improve metastatic disease treatment efficacy.Ethics ApprovalAll procedures involving animals in this study were approved by the UT Health San Antonio Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and conducted in accordance with UT Health San Antonio Department of Laboratory Animal Resources standards.ReferencesShah AY, Gao J, Siefker-Radtke AO. Five new therapies or just one new treatment? A critical look at immune checkpoint inhibition in urothelial cancer: Future Medicine, 2017.Arenas-Ramirez N, Zou C, Popp S, et al. Improved cancer immunotherapy by a CD25-mimobody conferring selectivity to human interleukin-2. Science translational medicine 2016;8(367):367ra166-367ra166.


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