Targeting Tuberculosis and HIV Infection-Specific Regulatory T Cells with MEK/ERK Signaling Pathway Inhibitors.
PLoS One
; 10(11): e0141903, 2015.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26544592
ABSTRACT
Human regulatory T cells (Tregs) are essential in maintaining immunological tolerance and suppress effector T cells. Tregs are commonly up-regulated in chronic infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and thereby hamper disease-specific immune responses and eradication of pathogens. The MEK/ERK signaling pathway is involved in regulation of the FoxP3 transcription factor, which directs a lineage-specific transcriptional program to define Tregs and control their suppressive function. Here, we aimed to target activation of disease-specific Tregs by inhibition of the MEK/ERK signaling pathway based on the hypothesis that this would improve anti-HIV and anti-TB immunity. Stimulation of T cells from untreated TB (n = 12) and HIV (n = 8) patients with disease-specific antigens in vitro in the presence of the MEK inhibitor (MEKI) trametinib (GSK1120212) resulted in significant down-regulation of both FoxP3 levels (MFI) and fractions of resting (CD45RA+FoxP3+) and activated (CD45RA-FoxP3++) Tregs. MEKI also reduced the levels of specific T effector cells expressing the pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-2) in both HIV and TB patients. In conclusion, MEKIs modulate disease antigen-specific Treg activation and may have potential application in new treatment strategies in chronic infectious diseases where reduction of Treg activity would be favorable. Whether MEKIs can be used in current HIV or TB therapy regimens needs to be further investigated.
Texto completo:
1
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Tuberculosis
/
Infecciones por VIH
/
Linfocitos T Reguladores
/
Sistema de Señalización de MAP Quinasas
/
Inhibidores de Proteínas Quinasas
/
Terapia Molecular Dirigida
Límite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS One
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIA
/
MEDICINA
Año:
2015
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Noruega