Virology
Abstract
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in clinical material cannot replicate efficiently in vitro until it has adapted by mutation. Consequently, wild-type HCMV differ fundamentally from the passaged strains used for research. To generate a genetically intact source of HCMV, we cloned strain Merlin into a self-excising BAC. The Merlin BAC clone had mutations in the RL13 gene and UL128 locus that were acquired during limited replication in vitro prior to cloning. The complete wild-type HCMV gene complement was reconstructed by reference to the original clinical sample. Characterization of viruses generated from repaired BACs revealed that RL13 efficiently repressed HCMV replication in multiple cell types; moreover, RL13 mutants rapidly and reproducibly emerged in transfectants. Virus also acquired mutations in genes UL128, UL130, or UL131A, which inhibited virus growth specifically in fibroblast cells in wild-type form. We further report that RL13 encodes a highly glycosylated virion envelope protein and thus has the potential to modulate tropism. To overcome rapid emergence of mutations in genetically intact HCMV, we developed a system in which RL13 and UL131A were conditionally repressed during virus propagation. This technological advance now permits studies to be undertaken with a clonal, characterized HCMV strain containing the complete wild-type gene complement and promises to enhance the clinical relevance of fundamental research on HCMV.
Authors
Richard J. Stanton, Katarina Baluchova, Derrick J. Dargan, Charles Cunningham, Orla Sheehy, Sepehr Seirafian, Brian P. McSharry, M. Lynne Neale, James A. Davies, Peter Tomasec, Andrew J. Davison, Gavin W.G. Wilkinson
Abstract
Persistent levels of IL-10 play a central role in progressive immune dysfunction associated with chronic viral infections such as HIV, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Because IL-10 affects the phenotypic and functional properties of DCs, which are responsible for initiating adaptive immune responses, we investigated whether IL-10 induces changes in DC phenotype and function in the context of HIV infection. Here, we show that IL-10 treatment of immature and mature human DCs in culture induced contrasting phenotypic changes in these populations: immature DCs exhibited aberrant resistance to NK cell–mediated elimination, whereas mature DCs exhibited increased susceptibility to NKG2D-dependent NK elimination. Treatment of immature and mature DCs with HIV resulted in potent IL-10 secretion and the same phenotypic and functional changes observed in the IL-10–treated cells. Consistent with these in vitro data, LNs isolated from individuals infected with HIV exhibited aberrant accumulation of a partially “immature” DC population. Together, these data suggest that the progressive immune dysfunction observed in chronic viral infections might be caused in part by IL-10–induced reversal of DC susceptibility to NK cell–mediated elimination, resulting in the accumulation of poorly immunogenic DCs in LNs, the sites of adaptive immune response induction.
Authors
Galit Alter, Daniel Kavanagh, Suzannah Rihn, Rutger Luteijn, David Brooks, Michael Oldstone, Jan van Lunzen, Marcus Altfeld
Abstract
Viruses that infect T cells, including those of the lentivirus genus, such as HIV-1, modulate the responsiveness of infected T cells to stimulation by interacting APCs in a manner that renders the T cells more permissive for viral replication. HIV-1 and other primate lentiviruses use their Nef proteins to manipulate the T cell/APC contact zone, the immunological synapse (IS). It is known that primate lentiviral Nef proteins differ substantially in their ability to modulate cell surface expression of the TCR-CD3 and CD28 receptors critical for the formation and function of the IS. However, the impact of these differences in Nef function on the interaction and communication between virally infected T cells and primary APCs has not been investigated. Here we have used primary human cells to show that Nef proteins encoded by HIV-2 and most SIVs, which downmodulate cell surface expression of TCR-CD3, disrupt formation of the IS between infected T cells and Ag-presenting macrophages or DCs. In contrast, nef alleles from HIV-1 and its simian precursor SIVcpz failed to suppress synapse formation and events downstream of TCR signaling. Our data suggest that most primate lentiviruses disrupt communication between virally infected CD4+ Th cells and APCs, whereas HIV-1 and its SIV precursor have largely lost this capability. The resulting differences in the levels of T cell activation and apoptosis may play a role in the pathogenesis of AIDS.
Authors
Nathalie Arhel, Martin Lehmann, Karen Clauß, G. Ulrich Nienhaus, Vincent Piguet, Frank Kirchhoff
Abstract
There is an association between expression of the MHC class I molecule HLA-B27 and protection following human infection with either HIV or HCV. In both cases, protection has been linked to HLA-B27 presentation of a single immunodominant viral peptide epitope to CD8+ T cells. If HIV mutates the HLA-B27–binding anchor of this epitope to escape the protective immune response, the result is a less-fit virus that requires additional compensatory clustered mutations. Here, we sought to determine whether the immunodominant HLA-B27–restricted HCV epitope was similarly constrained by analyzing the replication competence and immunogenicity of different escape mutants. Interestingly, in most HLA-B27–positive patients chronically infected with HCV, the escape mutations spared the HLA-B27–binding anchor. Instead, the escape mutations were clustered at other sites within the epitope and had only a modest impact on replication competence. Further analysis revealed that the cluster of mutations is required for efficient escape because a combination of mutations is needed to impair T cell recognition of the epitope. Artificially introduced mutations at the HLA-B27–binding anchors were found to be either completely cross-reactive or to lead to substantial loss of fitness. These results suggest that protection by HLA-B27 in HCV infection can be explained by the requirement to accumulate a cluster of mutations within the immunodominant epitope to escape T cell recognition.
Authors
Eva Dazert, Christoph Neumann-Haefelin, Stéphane Bressanelli, Karen Fitzmaurice, Julia Kort, Jörg Timm, Susan McKiernan, Dermot Kelleher, Norbert Gruener, John E. Tavis, Hugo R. Rosen, Jaqueline Shaw, Paul Bowness, Hubert E. Blum, Paul Klenerman, Ralf Bartenschlager, Robert Thimme
Abstract
Plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) have been implicated as crucial cells in antiviral immune responses. On recognizing HIV, they become activated, secreting large amounts of IFN-α and inflammatory cytokines, thereby potentiating innate and adaptive antiviral immune responses. Here, we have shown that HIV-stimulated human pDCs can also induce the differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells into Tregs with suppressive function. This differentiation was independent of pDC production of IFN-α and primarily dependent on pDC expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, which was induced through the TLR/MyD88 pathway, following binding of HIV to CD4 and triggering of TLR7 by HIV genomic RNA. Functionally, the Tregs induced by pDCs were shown to inhibit the maturation of bystander conventional DCs. This study therefore reveals what we believe to be a novel mechanism by which pDC may regulate and potentially limit anti-HIV immune responses.
Authors
Olivier Manches, David Munn, Anahita Fallahi, Jeffrey Lifson, Laurence Chaperot, Joel Plumas, Nina Bhardwaj
Abstract
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection is the most common cause of sporadic, fatal encephalitis, but current understanding of how the virus interacts with cellular factors to regulate disease progression is limited. Here, we show that HSV-1 infection induced the expression of the cellular transcription factor early growth response 1 (Egr-1) in a human neuronal cell line. Egr-1 increased viral replication by activating promoters of viral productive cycle genes through binding to its corresponding sequences in the viral promoters. Mouse studies confirmed that Egr-1 expression was enhanced in HSV-1–infected brains and that Egr-1 functions to promote viral replication in embryonic fibroblasts. Furthermore, Egr-1 deficiency or knockdown of Egr-1 by a DNA-based enzyme greatly reduced the mortality of HSV-1–infected mice by decreasing viral loads in tissues. This study provides what we believe is the first evidence that Egr-1 increases the mortality of HSV-1 encephalitis by enhancing viral replication. Moreover, blocking this cellular machinery exploited by the virus could prevent host mortality.
Authors
Shih-Heng Chen, Hui-Wen Yao, I-Te Chen, Biehuoy Shieh, Ching Li, Shun-Hua Chen
Abstract
Naturally SIV-infected sooty mangabeys (SMs) remain asymptomatic despite high virus replication. Elucidating the mechanisms underlying AIDS resistance of SIV-infected SMs may provide crucial information to better understand AIDS pathogenesis. In this study, we assessed the determinants of set-point viremia in naturally SIV-infected SMs, i.e., immune control of SIV replication versus target cell limitation. We depleted CD4+ T cells in 6 naturally SIV-infected SMs by treating with humanized anti-CD4 mAb (Cdr-OKT4A-huIgG1). CD4+ T cells were depleted almost completely in blood and BM and at variable levels in mucosal tissues and LNs. No marked depletion of CD14+ monocytes was observed. Importantly, CD4+ T cell depletion was associated with a rapid, significant decline in viral load, which returned to baseline level at day 30–45, coincident with an increased fraction of proliferating and activated CD4+ T cells. Throughout the study, virus replication correlated with the level of proliferating CD4+ T cells. CD4+ T cell depletion did not induce any changes in the fraction of Tregs or the level of SIV-specific CD8+ T cells. Our results suggest that the availability of activated CD4+ T cells, rather than immune control of SIV replication, is the main determinant of set-point viral load during natural SIV infection of SMs.
Authors
Nichole R. Klatt, Francois Villinger, Pavel Bostik, Shari N. Gordon, Lara Pereira, Jessica C. Engram, Ann Mayne, Richard M. Dunham, Benton Lawson, Sarah J. Ratcliffe, Donald L. Sodora, James Else, Keith Reimann, Silvija I. Staprans, Ashley T. Haase, Jacob D. Estes, Guido Silvestri, Aftab A. Ansari
Abstract
Poxviruses such as the causative agent of smallpox have developed multiple strategies to suppress immune responses, including the suppression of DC activation. Since poxviruses are large DNA viruses, we hypothesized that their detection by DCs may involve the endosomal DNA recognition receptor TLR9. Indeed, we have shown here that DC recognition of ectromelia virus (ECTV), the causative agent of mousepox, completely depended on TLR9. The importance of TLR9 was highlighted by the fact that mice lacking TLR9 showed drastically increased susceptibility to infection with ECTV. In contrast, we found that the strongly attenuated poxvirus modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) activated DCs by both TLR9-dependent and -independent pathways. We therefore tested whether we could use the broader induction of immune responses by MVA to protect mice from a lethal infection with ECTV. Indeed, MVA given at the same time as a lethal dose of ECTV protected mice from death. Importantly, MVA also rescued TLR9-deficient mice if administered 2 full days after an otherwise lethal infection with ECTV. Therefore, these data suggest an essential role for TLR9 in the defense against poxviruses. In addition, postexposure application of MVA may protect against lethal poxvirus infection.
Authors
Christofer Samuelsson, Jürgen Hausmann, Henning Lauterbach, Michaela Schmidt, Shizuo Akira, Hermann Wagner, Paul Chaplin, Mark Suter, Meredith O’Keeffe, Hubertus Hochrein
Abstract
HBV-specific CD8+ T cells are critical for a successful immune response to HBV infection. They are markedly diminished in number in patients who fail to control the virus, but the mechanisms resulting in their depletion remain ill defined. Here, we dissected the defective HBV-specific CD8+ T cell response associated with chronic HBV infection by gene expression profiling. We found that HBV-specific CD8+ T cells from patients with different clinical outcomes could be distinguished by their patterns of gene expression. Microarray analysis revealed that overlapping clusters of functionally related apoptotic genes were upregulated in HBV-specific CD8+ T cells from patients with chronic compared with resolved infection. Further analysis confirmed that levels of the proapoptotic protein Bcl2-interacting mediator (Bim) were upregulated in HBV-specific CD8+ T cells from patients with chronic HBV infection. Blocking Bim-mediated apoptosis enhanced recovery of HBV-specific CD8+ T cells both in culture and directly ex vivo. Consistent with evidence that Bim mediates apoptosis of CD8+ T cells expressing low levels of CD127 (IL-7R), the few surviving HBV-specific CD8+ T cells were CD127hi and had elevated levels of the antiapoptotic protein Mcl1, suggesting they were amenable to IL-7–mediated rescue from apoptosis. We therefore postulate that Bim-mediated attrition of HBV-specific CD8+ T cells contributes to the inability of these cell populations to persist and control viral replication.
Authors
A. Ross Lopes, Paul Kellam, Abhishek Das, Claire Dunn, Antonia Kwan, Joanna Turner, Dimitra Peppa, Richard J. Gilson, Adam Gehring, Antonio Bertoletti, Mala K. Maini
Abstract
Genetic studies suggest a role for killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor/HLA (KIR/HLA) compound genotypes in the outcome of viral infections, but functional data to explain these epidemiological observations have not been reported. Using an in vitro model of infection with influenza A virus (IAV), we attribute functional differences in human NK cell activity to distinct KIR/HLA genotypes. Multicolor flow cytometry revealed that the HLA-C–inhibited NK cell subset in HLA-C1 homozygous subjects was larger and responded more rapidly in IFN-γ secretion and CD107a degranulation assays than its counterpart in HLA-C2 homozygous subjects. The differential IFN-γ response was also observed at the level of bulk NK cells and was independent of KIR3DL1/HLA-Bw4 interactions. Moreover, the differential response was not caused by differences in NK cell maturation status and phenotype, nor by differences in the type I IFN response of IAV-infected accessory cells between HLA-C1 and HLA-C2 homozygous subjects. These results provide functional evidence for differential NK cell responsiveness depending on KIR/HLA genotype and may provide useful insights into differential innate immune responsiveness to viral infections such as IAV.
Authors
Golo Ahlenstiel, Maureen P. Martin, Xiaojiang Gao, Mary Carrington, Barbara Rehermann
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