Targeting stromal cell sialylation reverses T cell-mediated immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment.

Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments (TMEs) reduce the effectiveness of immune responses in cancer. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), precursors to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), promote tumor progression by enhancing immune cell suppression in colorectal cancer (CRC). Hyper-sialylation of glycans promotes immune evasion in cancer through binding of sialic acids to their receptors, Siglecs, expressed on immune cells, which results in inhibition of effector functions. The role of sialylation in shaping MSC/CAF immunosuppression in the TME is not well characterized. In this study, we show that tumor-conditioned stromal cells have increased sialyltransferase expression, α2,3/6-linked sialic acid, and Siglec ligands. Tumor-conditioned stromal cells and CAFs induce exhausted immunomodulatory CD8+ PD1+ and CD8+ Siglec-7+/Siglec-9+ T cell phenotypes. In vivo, targeting stromal cell sialylation reverses stromal cell-mediated immunosuppression, as shown by infiltration of CD25 and granzyme B-expressing CD8+ T cells in the tumor and draining lymph node. Targeting stromal cell sialylation may overcome immunosuppression in the CRC TME.

Expression of SARS coronavirus 1 spike protein from a herpesviral vector induces innate immune signaling and neutralizing antibody responses.

SARS coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) causes a respiratory infection that can lead to acute respiratory distress characterized by inflammation and high levels of cytokines in the lung tissue. In this study we constructed a herpes simplex virus 1 replication-defective mutant vector expressing SARS-CoV-1 spike protein as a potential vaccine vector and to probe the effects of spike protein on host cells. The spike protein expressed from this vector is functional in that it localizes to the surface of infected cells and induces fusion of ACE2-expressing cells. In immunized mice, the recombinant vector induced antibodies that bind to spike protein in an ELISA assay and that show neutralizing activity. The spike protein expressed from this vector can induce the expression of cytokines in an ACE2-independent, MyD88-dependent process. These results argue that the SARS-CoV-1 spike protein intrinsically activates signaling pathways that induce cytokines and contribute directly to the inflammatory process of SARS.

Heterologous Immunity and Persistent Murine Cytomegalovirus Infection.

One's history of infections can affect the immune response to unrelated pathogens and influence disease outcome through the process of heterologous immunity. This can occur after acute viral infections, such as infections with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and vaccinia virus, where the pathogens are cleared, but it becomes a more complex issue in the context of persistent infections. In this study, murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) was used as a persistent infection model to study heterologous immunity with LCMV. If mice were previously immune to LCMV and then infected with MCMV (LCMV+MCMV), they had more severe immunopathology, enhanced viral burden in multiple organs, and suppression of MCMV-specific T cell memory inflation. MCMV infection initially reduced the numbers of LCMV-specific memory T cells, but continued MCMV persistence did not further erode memory T cells specific to LCMV. When MCMV infection was given first (MCMV+LCMV), the magnitude of the acute T cell response to LCMV declined with age though this age-dependent decline was not dependent on MCMV. However, some of these MCMV persistently infected mice with acute LCMV infection (7 of 36) developed a robust immunodominant CD8 T cell response apparently cross-reactive between a newly defined putative MCMV epitope sequence, M57727-734, and the normally subdominant LCMV epitope L2062-2069, indicating a profound private specificity effect in heterologous immunity between these two viruses. These results further illustrate how a history of an acute or a persistent virus infection can substantially influence the immune responses and immune pathology associated with acute or persistent infections with an unrelated virus. IMPORTANCE: This study extends our understanding of heterologous immunity in the context of persistent viral infection. The phenomenon has been studied mostly with viruses such as LCMV that are cleared, but the situation can be more complex with a persistent virus such as MCMV. We found that the history of LCMV infection intensifies MCMV immunopathology, enhances MCMV burden in multiple organs, and suppresses MCMV-specific T cell memory inflation. In the reverse infection sequence, we show that some of the long-term MCMV-immune mice mount a robust CD8 T cell cross-reactive response between a newly defined putative MCMV epitope sequence and a normally subdominant LCMV epitope. These results further illustrate how a history of infection can substantially influence the immune responses and immune pathology associated with infections with an unrelated virus.

Evaluation of non-reciprocal heterologous immunity between unrelated viruses.

Heterologous immunity refers to the phenomenon whereby a history of an immune response against one pathogen can provide a level of immunity to a second unrelated pathogen. Previous investigations have shown that heterologous immunity is not necessarily reciprocal, such as in the case of vaccinia virus (VACV). Replication of VACV is reduced in mice immune to a variety of pathogens, while VACV fails to induce immunity to several of the same pathogens, including lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Here we examine the lack of reciprocity of heterologous immunity between VACV and LCMV and find that they induce qualitatively different memory CD8 T cells. However, depending on the repertoire of an individual host, VACV can provide protection against LCMV simply by experimentally amplifying the quantity of T cells cross-reactive with the two viruses. Thus, one cause for lack of reciprocity is differences in the frequencies of cross-reactive T cells in immune hosts.

Regulatory T cells resist virus infection-induced apoptosis.

UNLABELLED: Regulatory T (Treg) cells are important in the maintenance of self-tolerance, and the depletion of Treg cells correlates with autoimmune development. It has been shown that type I interferon (IFN) responses induced early in the infection of mice can drive memory (CD44hi) CD8 and CD4 T cells into apoptosis, and we questioned here whether the apoptosis of CD44-expressing Treg cells might be involved in the infection-associated autoimmune development. Instead, we found that Treg cells were much more resistant to apoptosis than CD44hi CD8 and CD4 T cells at days 2 to 3 after lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection, when type I IFN levels are high. The infection caused a downregulation of the interleukin-7 (IL-7) receptor, needed for survival of conventional T cells, while increasing on Treg cells the expression of the high-affinity IL-2 receptor, needed for STAT5-dependent survival of Treg cells. The stably maintained Treg cells early during infection may explain the relatively low incidence of autoimmune manifestations among infected patients. IMPORTANCE: Autoimmune diseases are controlled in part by regulatory T cells (Treg) and are thought to sometimes be initiated by viral infections. We tested the hypothesis that Treg may die off at early stages of infection, when virus-induced factors kill other lymphocyte types. Instead, we found that Treg resisted this cell death, perhaps reducing the tendency of viral infections to cause immune dysfunction and induce autoimmunity.

Therapeutic DNA vaccine induces broad T cell responses in the gut and sustained protection from viral rebound and AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

Immunotherapies that induce durable immune control of chronic HIV infection may eliminate the need for life-long dependence on drugs. We investigated a DNA vaccine formulated with a novel genetic adjuvant that stimulates immune responses in the blood and gut for the ability to improve therapy in rhesus macaques chronically infected with SIV. Using the SIV-macaque model for AIDS, we show that epidermal co-delivery of plasmids expressing SIV Gag, RT, Nef and Env, and the mucosal adjuvant, heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin (LT), during antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced a substantial 2-4-log fold reduction in mean virus burden in both the gut and blood when compared to unvaccinated controls and provided durable protection from viral rebound and disease progression after the drug was discontinued. This effect was associated with significant increases in IFN-γ T cell responses in both the blood and gut and SIV-specific CD8+ T cells with dual TNF-α and cytolytic effector functions in the blood. Importantly, a broader specificity in the T cell response seen in the gut, but not the blood, significantly correlated with a reduction in virus production in mucosal tissues and a lower virus burden in plasma. We conclude that immunizing with vaccines that induce immune responses in mucosal gut tissue could reduce residual viral reservoirs during drug therapy and improve long-term treatment of HIV infection in humans.

Mice completely lacking immunoproteasomes show major changes in antigen presentation.

The importance of immunoproteasomes to antigen presentation has been unclear because animals totally lacking immunoproteasomes had not been available. Having now developed mice lacking the three immunoproteasome catalytic subunits, we found that the dendritic cells of these mice had defects in presenting several major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I epitopes. During viral infection in vivo, the presentation of a majority of MHC class I epitopes was markedly reduced in immunoproteasome-deficient animals compared with wild-type animals, whereas presentation of MHC class II peptides was unaffected. According to mass spectrometry, the repertoire of MHC class I-presented peptides was ∼50% different from that in wild-type mice, and these differences were sufficient to stimulate robust transplant rejection of wild-type cells in mutant mice. These results indicated that immunoproteasomes were more important in antigen presentation than previously thought.

Heterologous immunity between viruses.

Immune memory responses to previously encountered pathogens can sometimes alter the immune response to and the course of infection of an unrelated pathogen by a process known as heterologous immunity. This response can lead to enhanced or diminished protective immunity and altered immunopathology. Here, we discuss the nature of T-cell cross-reactivity and describe matrices of epitopes from different viruses eliciting cross-reactive CD8(+) T-cell responses. We examine the parameters of heterologous immunity mediated by these cross-reactive T cells during viral infections in mice and humans. We show that heterologous immunity can disrupt T-cell memory pools, alter the complexity of the T-cell repertoire, change patterns of T-cell immunodominance, lead to the selection of viral epitope-escape variants, alter the pathogenesis of viral infections, and, by virtue of the private specificity of T-cell repertoires within individuals, contribute to dramatic variations in viral disease. We propose that heterologous immunity is an important factor in resistance to and variations of human viral infections and that issues of heterologous immunity should be considered in the design of vaccines.

Hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg) powder formulation: process and stability assessment.

The purpose of this study was to develop a hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg) dry powder vaccine formulation suitable for epidermal powder immunization (EPI) via an efficient, scalable powder-formation process. Several HBsAg dry powder formulations were prepared using four different powder-formation methods: freeze-drying/compress/grind/sieve (FD/C/G/S), spray-drying (SD), agarose beads, and spray freeze-drying (SFD). Powder properties and physical stability were determined using particle size analysis, tap density measurement, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and moisture content analysis. Physical, chemical and biochemical stability of HBsAg was determined by dynamic light scattering, an enzyme immune assay, and immunogenicity in a mouse or hairless guinea pig model. Out of the four powder-formation methods evaluated SFD outperformed other methods in the following considerations: good process efficiency, flexible scalability, and desirable particle characteristics for skin penetration. The stress posed by SFD appeared to be mild as HBsAg in the dry form retained its potency and immunogenicity. Notably, the mechanism of fast freezing by SFD actually promoted the preservation of HBsAg nanoparticle size, in good correlation with long-term biochemical stability. Among several formulations screened, the formulation containing 10 microg HBsAg in 1-mg powder with a tertiary mixture of trehalose, mannitol, and dextran, exhibited excellent overall stability performance. In conclusion, HBsAg dry powder formulations suitable for EPI were successfully prepared using SFD. Further, a systematic formulation development strategy allowed the development and optimization of an HBsAg dry powder formulation, demonstrating excellent long-term physical, biochemical, and immunological stability.

Optimization of an alum-adsorbed vaccine powder formulation for epidermal powder immunization.

PURPOSE: To develop stable and effective aluminum salt (alum)-adsorbed vaccine powder formulations for epidermal powder immunization (EPI) via a spray freeze-drying (SFD) process. METHODS: Powder properties were determined using particle size analysis, tap density, and scanning electron microscopy. Alum coagulation was monitored via optical microscopy and particle sedimentation. Protein analysis was determined by the BCA protein assay, SDS-PAGE, and an enzyme immunoassay. In vivo immunogenicity and skin reactogenicity were performed on hairless guinea pigs and pigs, respectively. RESULTS: SFD of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide or aluminum phosphate using an excipient combination of trehalose/mannitol/dextran produced vaccine powders of dense particles and satisfactory powder flowability and hygroscopicity. This formulation also offered excellent long-term stability to the powder and the antigen. The two most important factors influencing alum particle coagulation are the freezing rate and the concentration of aluminum in the liquid formulation for SFD. The SFD vaccines, when delivered to hairless guinea pigs by EPI or injected intramuscularly after reconstitution, were as immunogenic as the original liquid vaccine. A further study showed that EPI with SFD alum-adsorbed diphtheria-tetanus toxoid vaccine was well tolerated, whereas needle injection of the liquid formulation caused persistent granuloma. CONCLUSIONS: Stabilization of alum-adsorbed vaccine by SFD has important implications in extending vaccination to areas lacking a cold chain for transportation and storage and may also accelerate the development of new immunization technologies such as EPI.