Carbon monoxide-induced autophagy enhances human mesenchymal stromal cell function via paracrine actions in murine polymicrobial sepsis.

Sepsis is a life-threatening process due to organ dysfunction resulting from severe infections. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are being investigated as therapy for sepsis, along with conditioning regimens to improve their function. Carbon monoxide (CO) gas, which is cytoprotective at low doses, induces autophagy and is a mediator of inflammation. We evaluated CO-induced autophagy in human MSCs (hMSCs), and its impact on cell function in murine cecal ligation and puncture. Conditioning of hMSCs with CO ex vivo resulted in enhanced survival and bacterial clearance in vivo, and neutrophil phagocytosis of bacteria in vitro. Decreased neutrophil infiltration and less parenchymal cell death in organs were associated with increased macrophage efferocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils, promoting resolution of inflammation. These CO effects were lost when the cells were exposed to autophagy inhibition prior to gas exposure. When assessing paracrine actions of CO-induced autophagy, extracellular vesicles (EVs) were predominantly responsible. CO had no effect on EV production, but altered their miRNA cargo. Increased expression of miR-145-3p and miR-193a-3p by CO was blunted with disruption of autophagy, and inhibitors of these miRNAs led to a loss of neutrophil phagocytosis and macrophage efferocytosis. Collectively, CO-induced autophagy enhanced hMSC function during sepsis via paracrine actions of MSC-derived EVs.

Nasal polyp antibody-secreting cells display proliferation signature in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) causes nasal obstruction and olfactory dysfunction. Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) is the triad of CRSwNP, asthma, and respiratory reactions to COX-1 inhibitors. Patients with AERD have elevated nasal IL-5 levels and high numbers of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs), including plasma cells and plasmablasts, in their polyp tissue; in addition, their nasal polyp (NP) IgE levels are correlated with disease severity and recurrence of nasal polyposis. OBJECTIVE: We sought to explore differences in the transcriptomic profile, activation markers, and IL-5Rα expression and function of NP ASCs from patients with AERD and CRSwNP. METHODS: NP tissue was collected from patients with AERD and CRSwNP and digested into single-cell suspensions. NP cells were analyzed for protein expression by mass cytometry. For IL-5Rα functional studies, plasma cells were purified and cultured in vitro with or without IL-5 and analyzed by bulk RNA sequencing. RESULTS: Compared with polyp tissue from patients with CRSwNP, polyp tissue from patients with AERD contained significantly more ASCs and had increased ASC expression of IL-5Rα. ASCs from patients with AERD expressed higher protein levels of B-cell activation and regulatory markers (CD40, CD19, CD32, and CD38) and the proliferation marker Ki-67. ASCs from patients with AERD also expressed more IL5RA, IGHE, and cell cycle- and proliferation-related transcripts (CCND2, MKI67, CDC25A, and CDC25B) than did ASCs from patients with CRSwNP. Stimulation of plasma cells from patients with AERD with IL-5 induced key cell cycle genes (CCND2 and PTP4A3), whereas IL-5 stimulation of ASCs from patients with CRSwNP induced few transcriptomic changes. CONCLUSION: NP tissue ASCs from patients with AERD express higher levels of functional IL-5Rα and markers associated with cell cycling and proliferation than do ASCs from patients with aspirin-tolerant CRSwNP.

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Facilitate Neutrophil-Trained Immunity by Reprogramming Hematopoietic Stem Cells.

Novel therapeutics are urgently needed to prevent opportunistic infections in immunocompromised individuals undergoing cancer treatments or other immune-suppressive therapies. Trained immunity is a promising strategy to reduce this burden of disease. We previously demonstrated that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) preconditioned with a class A CpG oligodeoxynucleotide (CpG-ODN), a Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, can augment emergency granulopoiesis in a murine model of neutropenic sepsis. Here, we used a chimeric mouse model to demonstrate that MSCs secrete paracrine factors that act on lineage-negative c-kit+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), leaving them "poised" to enhance emergency granulopoiesis months after transplantation. Chimeric mice developed from HSCs exposed to conditioned media from MSCs and CpG-ODN-preconditioned MSCs showed significantly higher bacterial clearance and increased neutrophil granulopoiesis following lung infection than control mice. By Cleavage Under Targets and Release Using Nuclease (CUT&RUN) chromatin sequencing, we identified that MSC-conditioned media leaves H3K4me3 histone marks in HSCs at genes involved in myelopoiesis and in signaling persistence by the mTOR pathway. Both soluble factors and extracellular vesicles from MSCs mediated these effects on HSCs and proteomic analysis by mass spectrometry revealed soluble calreticulin as a potential mediator. In summary, this study demonstrates that trained immunity can be mediated by paracrine factors from MSCs to induce neutrophil-trained immunity by reprogramming HSCs for long-lasting functional changes in neutrophil-mediated antimicrobial immunity.

Type I interferon signature and cycling lymphocytes in macrophage activation syndrome.

BACKGROUNDMacrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a life-threatening complication of Still's disease (SD) characterized by overt immune cell activation and cytokine storm. We aimed to further understand the immunologic landscape of SD and MAS.METHODWe profiled PBMCs from people in a healthy control group and patients with SD with or without MAS using bulk RNA-Seq and single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq). We validated and expanded the findings by mass cytometry, flow cytometry, and in vitro studies.RESULTSBulk RNA-Seq of PBMCs from patients with SD-associated MAS revealed strong expression of genes associated with type I interferon (IFN-I) signaling and cell proliferation, in addition to the expected IFN-γ signal, compared with people in the healthy control group and patients with SD without MAS. scRNA-Seq analysis of more than 65,000 total PBMCs confirmed IFN-I and IFN-γ signatures and localized the cell proliferation signature to cycling CD38+HLA-DR+ cells within CD4+ T cell, CD8+ T cell, and NK cell populations. CD38+HLA-DR+ lymphocytes exhibited prominent IFN-γ production, glycolysis, and mTOR signaling. Cell-cell interaction modeling suggested a network linking CD38+HLA-DR+ lymphocytes with monocytes through IFN-γ signaling. Notably, the expansion of CD38+HLA-DR+ lymphocytes in MAS was greater than in other systemic inflammatory conditions in children. In vitro stimulation of PBMCs demonstrated that IFN-I and IL-15 - both elevated in MAS patients - synergistically augmented the generation of CD38+HLA-DR+ lymphocytes, while Janus kinase inhibition mitigated this response.CONCLUSIONMAS associated with SD is characterized by overproduction of IFN-I, which may act in synergy with IL-15 to generate CD38+HLA-DR+ cycling lymphocytes that produce IFN-γ.

Cytomegalovirus durably primes neutrophil oxidative burst.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous herpes virus that infects most humans, thereafter persisting lifelong in tissues of the host. It is a known pathogen in immunosuppressed patients, but its impact on immunocompetent hosts remains less understood. Recent data have shown that CMV leaves a significant and long-lasting imprint in host immunity that may confer some protection against subsequent bacterial infection. Such innate immune activation may come at a cost, however, with potential to cause immunopathology. Neutrophils are central to many models of immunopathology, and while acute CMV infection is known to influence neutrophil biology, the impact of chronic CMV infection on neutrophil function remains unreported. Using our murine model of CMV infection and latency, we show that chronic CMV causes persistent enhancement of neutrophil oxidative burst well after resolution of acute infection. Moreover, this in vivo priming of marrow neutrophils is associated with enhanced formyl peptide receptor expression, and ultimately constitutive c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylation and enhanced CD14 expression in/on circulating neutrophils. Finally, we show that neutrophil priming is dependent on viral load, suggesting that naturally infected human hosts will show variability in CMV-related neutrophil priming. Altogether, these findings represent a previously unrecognized and potentially important impact of chronic CMV infection on neutrophil responsiveness in immunocompetent hosts.

Deep immunophenotyping reveals circulating activated lymphocytes in individuals at risk for rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease with currently no universally highly effective prevention strategies. Identifying pathogenic immune phenotypes in 'At-Risk' populations prior to clinical disease onset is crucial to establishing effective prevention strategies. Here, we applied mass cytometry to deeply characterize the immunophenotypes in blood from At-Risk individuals identified through the presence of serum antibodies to citrullinated protein antigens (ACPA) and/or first-degree relative (FDR) status (n=52), as compared to established RA (n=67), and healthy controls (n=48). We identified significant cell expansions in At-Risk individuals compared with controls, including CCR2+CD4+ T cells, T peripheral helper (Tph) cells, type 1 T helper cells, and CXCR5+CD8+ T cells. We also found that CD15+ classical monocytes were specifically expanded in ACPA-negative FDRs, and an activated PAX5 low naïve B cell population was expanded in ACPA-positive FDRs. Further, we developed an "RA immunophenotype score" classification method based on the degree of enrichment of cell states relevant to established RA patients. This score significantly distinguished At-Risk individuals from controls. In all, we systematically identified activated lymphocyte phenotypes in At-Risk individuals, along with immunophenotypic differences among both ACPA+ and ACPA-FDR At-Risk subpopulations. Our classification model provides a promising approach for understanding RA pathogenesis with the goal to further improve prevention strategies and identify novel therapeutic targets.

MACROPHAGE SWITCHING: POLARIZATION AND MOBILIZATION AFTER TRAUMA.

ABSTRACT: Introduction: Trauma alters the immune response in numerous ways, affecting both the innate and adaptive responses. Macrophages play an important role in inflammation and wound healing following injury. We hypothesize that macrophages mobilize from the circulation to the site of injury and secondary sites after trauma, with a transition from proinflammatory (M1) shortly after trauma to anti-inflammatory (M2) at later time points. Methods: C57Bl6 mice (n = 6/group) underwent a polytrauma model using cardiac puncture/hemorrhage, pseudofemoral fracture, and liver crush injury. The animals were killed at several time points: uninjured, 24 h, and 7 days. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells, spleen, liver nonparenchymal cells, and lung were harvested, processed, and stained for flow cytometry. Macrophages were identified as CD68 + ; M1 macrophages were identified as iNOS + ; M2 macrophages as arginase 1 + . Results: We saw a slight presence of M1 macrophages at baseline in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (6.6%), with no significant change at 24 h and 7 days after polytrauma. In contrast, the spleen has a larger population of M1 macrophages at baseline (27.7%), with levels decreasing at 24 h and 7 days after trauma (20.6% and 12.6%, respectively). A similar trend is seen in the lung where at baseline 14.9% of CD68 + macrophages are M1, with subsequent continual decrease reaching 8.7% at 24 h and 4.4% at 7 days after polytrauma. M1 macrophages in the liver represent 14.3% of CD68 + population in the liver nonparenchymal cells at baseline. This percentage increases to 20.8% after trauma and decreases at 7 days after polytrauma (13.4%). There are few M2 macrophages in circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in spleen at baseline and after trauma. The percentage of M2 macrophages in the lungs remains constant after trauma (7.2% at 24 h and 9.2% at 7 days). In contrast, a large proportion of M2 macrophages are seen in the liver at baseline (36.0%). This percentage trends upward and reaches 45.6% acutely after trauma and drops to 21.4% at 7 days. The phenotypic changes in macrophages seen in the lungs did not correlate with a functional change in the ability of the macrophages to perform oxidative burst, with an increase from 2.0% at baseline to 22.1% at 7 days after polytrauma ( P = 0.0258). Conclusion: Macrophage phenotypic changes after polytrauma are noted, especially with a decrease in the lung M1 phenotype and a short-term increase in the M2 phenotype in the liver. However, macrophage function as measured by oxidative burst increased over the time course of trauma, which may signify a change in subset polarization after injury not captured by the typical macrophage phenotypes.

Neutrophil heterogeneity and emergence of a distinct population of CD11b/CD18-activated low-density neutrophils after trauma.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple large clinical trauma trials have documented an increased susceptibility to infection after injury. Although neutrophils (polymorphonuclear leukocytes [PMNs]) were historically considered a homogeneous cell type, we hypothesized that injury could alter neutrophil heterogeneity and predispose to dysfunction. To explore whether trauma modifies PMN heterogeneity, we performed an observational mass-spectrometry-based cytometry study on total leukocytes and low-density PMNs found in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell fraction of leukocytes from healthy controls and trauma patients. METHODS: A total of 74 samples from 12 trauma patients, each sampled at 1 or more time points, and matched controls were fractionated and profiled by mass-spectrometry-based cytometry using a panel of 44 distinct markers. After deconvolution and conservative gating on neutrophils, data were analyzed using Seurat, followed by clustering of principal components. RESULTS: Eleven distinct neutrophil populations were resolved in control and trauma neutrophils based on differential protein surface marker expression. Trauma markedly altered the basal heterogeneity of neutrophil subgroups seen in the control samples, with loss of a dominant population of resting neutrophils marked by high expression of C3AR and low levels of CD63, CD64, and CD177 (cluster 1), and expansion of two alternative neutrophil populations, one of which is marked by high expression of CD177 with suppression of CD10, CD16, C3AR, CD63, and CD64 (cluster 6). Remarkably, following trauma, a substantially larger percentage of neutrophils sediment in the monocyte fraction. These low-density neutrophils bear markers of functional exhaustion and form a unique trauma-induced population (cluster 9) with markedly upregulated expression of active surface adhesion molecules (activated CD11b/CD18), with suppression of nearly all other surface markers, including receptors for formyl peptides, leukotrienes, chemokines, and complement. CONCLUSION: Circulating neutrophils demonstrate considerable evidence of functional heterogeneity that is markedly altered by trauma. Trauma induces evolution of a novel, exhausted, low-density neutrophil population with immunosuppressive features.

Pirtobrutinib targets BTK C481S in ibrutinib-resistant CLL but second-site BTK mutations lead to resistance.

Covalent inhibitors of Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) have transformed the therapy of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but continuous therapy has been complicated by the development of resistance. The most common resistance mechanism in patients whose disease progresses on covalent BTK inhibitors (BTKis) is a mutation in the BTK 481 cysteine residue to which the inhibitors bind covalently. Pirtobrutinib is a highly selective, noncovalent BTKi with substantial clinical activity in patients whose disease has progressed on covalent BTKi, regardless of BTK mutation status. Using in vitro ibrutinib-resistant models and cells from patients with CLL, we show that pirtobrutinib potently inhibits BTK-mediated functions including B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling, cell viability, and CCL3/CCL4 chemokine production in both BTK wild-type and C481S mutant CLL cells. We demonstrate that primary CLL cells from responding patients on the pirtobrutinib trial show reduced BCR signaling, cell survival, and CCL3/CCL4 chemokine secretion. At time of progression, these primary CLL cells show increasing resistance to pirtobrutinib in signaling inhibition, cell viability, and cytokine production. We employed longitudinal whole-exome sequencing on 2 patients whose disease progressed on pirtobrutinib and identified selection of alternative-site BTK mutations, providing clinical evidence that secondary BTK mutations lead to resistance to noncovalent BTKis.

Perturbing DDR signaling enhances cytotoxic effects of local oncolytic virotherapy and modulates the immune environment in glioma.

CAN-2409 is a replication-deficient adenovirus encoding herpes simplex virus (HSV) thymidine kinase (tk) currently in clinical trials for treatment of glioblastoma. The expression of tk in transduced cancer cells results in conversion of the pro-drug ganciclovir into a toxic metabolite causing DNA damage, inducing immunogenic cell death and immune activation. We hypothesize that CAN-2409 combined with DNA-damage-response inhibitors could amplify tumor cell death, resulting in an improved response. We investigated the effects of ATR inhibitor AZD6738 in combination with CAN-2409 in vitro using cytotoxicity, cytokine, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) assays in glioma cell lines and in vivo with an orthotopic syngeneic murine glioma model. Tumor immune infiltrates were analyzed by cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF). In vitro, we observed a significant increase in the DNA-damage marker γH2AX and decreased expression of PD-L1, pro-tumorigenic cytokines (interleukin-1ß [IL-1ß], IL-4), and ligand NKG2D after combination treatment compared with monotherapy or control. In vivo, long-term survival was increased after combination treatment (66.7%) compared with CAN-2409 (50%) and control. In a tumor re-challenge, long-term immunity after combination treatment was not improved. Our results suggest that ATR inhibition could amplify CAN-2409's efficacy in glioblastoma through increased DNA damage while having complex immunological ramifications, warranting further studies to determine the ideal conditions for maximized therapeutic benefit.

Longitudinal Immune Cell Profiling in Patients With Early Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the immune cell profiles of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to identify longitudinal changes in those profiles over time. METHODS: We employed mass cytometry with 3 different panels of 38-39 markers (an immunophenotyping panel, a T cell/monocyte panel, and a B cell panel) in cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 9 patients with early SLE, 15 patients with established SLE, and 14 controls without autoimmune disease. We used machine learning-driven clustering, flow self-organizing maps, and dimensional reduction with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding to identify unique cell populations in early SLE and established SLE. We used mass cytometry data of PBMCs from 19 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 23 controls to compare levels of specific cell populations in early RA and SLE. For the 9 patients with early SLE, longitudinal mass cytometry analysis was applied to PBMCs at enrollment, 6 months after enrollment, and 1 year after enrollment. Serum samples were also assayed for 65 cytokines using Luminex multiplex assay, and associations between cell types and cytokines/chemokines were assessed. RESULTS: Levels of peripheral helper T cells, follicular helper T (Tfh) cells, and several Ki-67+ proliferating subsets (ICOS+Ki-67+ CD8 T cells, Ki-67+ regulatory T cells, CD19intermediate Ki-67high plasmablasts, and PU.1high Ki-67high monocytes) were increased in patients with early SLE, with more prominent alterations than were seen in patients with early RA. Longitudinal mass cytometry and multiplex serum cytokine assays of samples from patients with early SLE revealed that levels of Tfh cells and CXCL10 had decreased 1 year after enrollment. Levels of CXCL13 were positively correlated with levels of several of the expanded cell populations in early SLE. CONCLUSION: Two major helper T cell subsets and unique Ki-67+ proliferating immune cell subsets were expanded in patients in the early phase of SLE, and the immunologic features characteristic of early SLE evolved over time.

Distinct Injury Responsive Regulatory T Cells Identified by Multi-Dimensional Phenotyping.

CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) activate and expand in response to different types of injuries, suggesting that they play a critical role in controlling the immune response to tissue and cell damage. This project used multi-dimensional profiling techniques to comprehensively characterize injury responsive Tregs in mice. We show that CD44high Tregs expand in response to injury and were highly suppressive when compared to CD44low Tregs. T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire analysis revealed that the CD44high Treg population undergo TCRαß clonal expansion as well as increased TCR CDR3 diversity. Bulk RNA sequencing and single-cell RNA sequencing with paired TCR clonotype analysis identified unique differences between CD44high and CD44low Tregs and specific upregulation of genes in Tregs with expanded TCR clonotypes. Gene ontology analysis for molecular function of RNA sequencing data identified chemokine receptors and cell division as the most enriched functional terms in CD44high Tregs versus CD44low Tregs. Mass cytometry (CyTOF) analysis of Tregs from injured and uninjured mice verified protein expression of these genes on CD44high Tregs, with injury-induced increases in Helios, Galectin-3 and PYCARD expression. Taken together, these data indicate that injury triggers the expansion of a highly suppressive CD44high Treg population that is transcriptionally and phenotypically distinct from CD44low Tregs suggesting that they actively participate in controlling immune responses to injury and tissue damage.

cyCombine allows for robust integration of single-cell cytometry datasets within and across technologies.

Combining single-cell cytometry datasets increases the analytical flexibility and the statistical power of data analyses. However, in many cases the full potential of co-analyses is not reached due to technical variance between data from different experimental batches. Here, we present cyCombine, a method to robustly integrate cytometry data from different batches, experiments, or even different experimental techniques, such as CITE-seq, flow cytometry, and mass cytometry. We demonstrate that cyCombine maintains the biological variance and the structure of the data, while minimizing the technical variance between datasets. cyCombine does not require technical replicates across datasets, and computation time scales linearly with the number of cells, allowing for integration of massive datasets. Robust, accurate, and scalable integration of cytometry data enables integration of multiple datasets for primary data analyses and the validation of results using public datasets.

High incidence of proliferative and membranous nephritis in SLE patients with low proteinuria in the Accelerating Medicines Partnership.

OBJECTIVE: Delayed detection of LN associates with worse outcomes. There are conflicting recommendations regarding a threshold level of proteinuria at which biopsy will likely yield actionable management. This study addressed the association of urine protein:creatinine ratios (UPCR) with clinical characteristics and investigated the incidence of proliferative and membranous histology in patients with a UPCR between 0.5 and 1. METHODS: A total of 275 SLE patients (113 first biopsy, 162 repeat) were enrolled in the multicentre multi-ethnic/racial Accelerating Medicines Partnership across 15 US sites at the time of a clinically indicated renal biopsy. Patients were followed for 1 year. RESULTS: At biopsy, 54 patients had UPCR <1 and 221 had UPCR ≥1. Independent of UPCR or biopsy number, a majority (92%) of patients had class III, IV, V or mixed histology. Moreover, patients with UPCR <1 and class III, IV, V, or mixed had a median activity index of 4.5 and chronicity index of 3, yet 39% of these patients had an inactive sediment. Neither anti-dsDNA nor low complement distinguished class I or II from III, IV, V or mixed in patients with UPCR <1. Of 29 patients with baseline UPCR <1 and class III, IV, V or mixed, 23 (79%) had a UPCR <0.5 at 1 year. CONCLUSION: In this prospective study, three-quarters of patients with UPCR <1 had histology showing class III, IV, V or mixed with accompanying activity and chronicity despite an inactive sediment or normal serologies. These data support renal biopsy at thresholds lower than a UPCR of 1.

Idelalisib reduces regulatory T cells and activates T helper 17 cell differentiation in relapsed refractory patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitors such as idelalisib have been associated with potentially severe autoimmune toxicity. In the present study, we demonstrate that relapsed refractory patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia treated with idelalisib rituximab on the phase III registration trial show uniform decrease in regulatory T cells (Tregs) and increase in CD8 T cells with treatment. Patients who do not develop toxicity show enrichment for T cells expressing multiple chemokine receptors, while those who do develop toxicity have an activated CD8 T cell population with T helper 17 cell differentiation at baseline, which then increases, leading to an increased CD8:Treg ratio that likely triggers autoimmune toxicity.

Ageing and interferon gamma response drive the phenotype of neutrophils in the inflamed joint.

OBJECTIVE: Neutrophils are typically the most abundant leucocyte in arthritic synovial fluid. We sought to understand changes that occur in neutrophils as they migrate from blood to joint. METHODS: We performed RNA sequencing of neutrophils from healthy human blood, arthritic blood and arthritic synovial fluid, comparing transcriptional signatures with those from murine K/BxN serum transfer arthritis. We employed mass cytometry to quantify protein expression and sought to reproduce the synovial fluid phenotype ex vivo in cultured healthy blood neutrophils. RESULTS: Blood neutrophils from healthy donors and patients with active arthritis showed largely similar transcriptional signatures. By contrast, synovial fluid neutrophils exhibited more than 1600 differentially expressed genes. Gene signatures identified a prominent response to interferon gamma (IFN-γ), as well as to tumour necrosis factor, interleukin-6 and hypoxia, in both humans and mice. Mass cytometry confirmed that healthy and arthritic donor blood neutrophils are largely indistinguishable but revealed a range of neutrophil phenotypes in synovial fluid defined by downregulation of CXCR1 and upregulation of FcγRI, HLA-DR, PD-L1, ICAM-1 and CXCR4. Reproduction of key elements of this signature in cultured blood neutrophils required both IFN-γ and prolonged culture. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating neutrophils from patients with arthritis resemble those from healthy controls, but joint fluid cells exhibit a network of changes, conserved across species, that implicate IFN-γ response and ageing as complementary drivers of the synovial fluid neutrophil phenotype.

Systemic high-dose dexamethasone treatment may modulate the efficacy of intratumoral viral oncolytic immunotherapy in glioblastoma models.

BACKGROUND: Intratumoral viral oncolytic immunotherapy is a promising new approach for the treatment of a variety of solid cancers. CAN-2409 is a replication-deficient adenovirus that delivers herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase to cancer cells, resulting in local conversion of ganciclovir or valacyclovir into a toxic metabolite. This leads to highly immunogenic cell death, followed by a local immune response against a variety of cancer neoantigens and, next, a systemic immune response against the injected tumor and uninjected distant metastases. CAN-2409 treatment has shown promising results in clinical studies in glioblastoma (GBM). Patients with GBM are usually given the corticosteroid dexamethasone to manage edema. Previous work has suggested that concurrent dexamethasone therapy may have a negative effect in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with GBM. However, the effects of dexamethasone on the efficacy of CAN-2409 treatment have not been explored. METHODS: In vitro experiments included cell viability and neurosphere T-cell killing assays. Effects of dexamethasone on CAN-2409 in vivo were examined using a syngeneic murine GBM model; survival was assessed according to Kaplan-Meier; analyses of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were performed with mass cytometry (CyTOF - cytometry by time-of-flight). Data were analyzed using a general linear model, with one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett's multiple comparison test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Dunn's multiple comparison test or statistical significance analysis of microarrays. RESULTS: In a mouse model of GBM, we found that high doses of dexamethasone combined with CAN-2409 led to significantly reduced median survival (29.0 days) compared with CAN-2409 treatment alone (39.5 days). CyTOF analyses of tumor-infiltrating immune cells demonstrated potent immune stimulation induced by CAN-2409 treatment. These effects were diminished when high-dose dexamethasone was used. Functional immune cell characterization suggested increased immune cell exhaustion and tumor promoting profiles after dexamethasone treatment. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that concurrent high-dose dexamethasone treatment may impair the efficacy of oncolytic viral immunotherapy of GBM, supporting the notion that dexamethasone use should be balanced between symptom control and impact on the therapeutic outcome.

Inflammasome activation in neutrophils of patients with severe COVID-19.

Infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) engages the inflammasome in monocytes and macrophages and leads to the cytokine storm in COVID-19. Neutrophils, the most abundant leukocytes, release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Our recent study shows that activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is important for NET release in sterile inflammation. However, the role of neutrophil inflammasome formation in human disease is unknown. We hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 infection may induce inflammasome activation in neutrophils. We also aimed to assess the localization of inflammasome formation (ie, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD [ASC] speck assembly) and timing relative to NETosis in stimulated neutrophils by real-time video microscopy. Neutrophils isolated from severe COVID-19 patients demonstrated that ∼2% of neutrophils in both the peripheral blood and tracheal aspirates presented ASC speck. ASC speck was observed in neutrophils with an intact poly-lobulated nucleus, suggesting early formation during neutrophil activation. Additionally, 40% of nuclei were positive for citrullinated histone H3, and there was a significant correlation between speck formation and nuclear histone citrullination. Time-lapse microscopy in lipopolysaccharide -stimulated neutrophils from fluorescent ASC reporter mice showed that ASC speck formed transiently and at the microtubule organizing center long before NET release. Our study shows that ASC speck is present in neutrophils from COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and that it forms early in NETosis. Our findings suggest that inhibition of neutrophil inflammasomes may be beneficial in COVID-19.

Checkpoint blockade-induced CD8+ T cell differentiation in head and neck cancer responders.

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) response in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is limited to 15%-20% of patients and underpinnings of resistance remain undefined. METHODS: Starting with an anti-PD1 sensitive murine HNSCC cell line, we generated an isogenic anti-PD1 resistant model. Mass cytometry was used to delineate tumor microenvironments of both sensitive parental murine oral carcinoma (MOC1) and resistant MOC1esc1 tumors. To examine heterogeneity and clonal dynamics of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we applied paired single-cell RNA and TCR sequencing in three HNSCC models. RESULTS: Anti-PD1 resistant MOC1esc1 line displayed a conserved cell intrinsic immune evasion signature. Immunoprofiling showed distinct baseline tumor microenvironments of MOC1 and MOC1esc1, as well as the remodeling of immune compartments on ICB in MOC1esc1 tumors. Single cell sequencing analysis identified several CD8 +TIL subsets including Tcf7 +Pd1- (naïve/memory-like), Tcf7 +Pd1+ (progenitor), and Tcf7-Pd1+ (differentiated effector). Mapping TCR shared fractions identified that successful anti-PD1 or anti-CTLA4 therapy-induced higher post-treatment T cell lineage transitions. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight critical aspects of CD8 +TIL heterogeneity and differentiation and suggest facilitation of CD8 +TIL differentiation as a strategy to improve HNSCC ICB response.