Mouse transcriptome reveals potential signatures of protection and pathogenesis in human tuberculosis.

Although mouse infection models have been extensively used to study the host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, their validity in revealing determinants of human tuberculosis (TB) resistance and disease progression has been heavily debated. Here, we show that the modular transcriptional signature in the blood of susceptible mice infected with a clinical isolate of M. tuberculosis resembles that of active human TB disease, with dominance of a type I interferon response and neutrophil activation and recruitment, together with a loss in B lymphocyte, natural killer and T cell effector responses. In addition, resistant but not susceptible strains of mice show increased lung B cell, natural killer and T cell effector responses in the lung upon infection. Notably, the blood signature of active disease shared by mice and humans is also evident in latent TB progressors before diagnosis, suggesting that these responses both predict and contribute to the pathogenesis of progressive M. tuberculosis infection.

T Cell-Derived IL-10 Impairs Host Resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity, causing ∼1.5 million deaths annually. CD4+ T cells and several cytokines, such as the Th1 cytokine IFN-γ, are critical in the control of this infection. Conversely, the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 has been shown to dampen Th1 cell responses to M. tuberculosis infection impairing bacterial clearance. However, the critical cellular source of IL-10 during M. tuberculosis infection is still unknown. Using IL-10 reporter mice, we show in this article that during the first 14 d of M. tuberculosis infection, the predominant cells expressing IL-10 in the lung were Ly6C+ monocytes. However, after day 21 postinfection, IL-10-expressing T cells were also highly represented. Notably, mice deficient in T cell-derived IL-10, but not mice deficient in monocyte-derived IL-10, showed a significant reduction in lung bacterial loads during chronic M. tuberculosis infection compared with fully IL-10-competent mice, indicating a major role for T cell-derived IL-10 in TB susceptibility. IL-10-expressing cells were detected among both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, expressed high levels of CD44 and Tbet, and were able to coproduce IFN-γ and IL-10 upon ex vivo stimulation. Furthermore, during M. tuberculosis infection, Il10 expression in CD4+ T cells was partially regulated by both IL-27 and type I IFN signaling. Together, our data reveal that, despite the multiple immune sources of IL-10 during M. tuberculosis infection, activated effector T cells are the major source accounting for IL-10-induced TB susceptibility.

TPL-2-ERK1/2 signaling promotes host resistance against intracellular bacterial infection by negative regulation of type I IFN production.

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, remains a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, causing ≈ 1.4 million deaths per year. Key immune components for host protection during tuberculosis include the cytokines IL-12, IL-1, and TNF-α, as well as IFN-γ and CD4(+) Th1 cells. However, immune factors determining whether individuals control infection or progress to active tuberculosis are incompletely understood. Excess amounts of type I IFN have been linked to exacerbated disease during tuberculosis in mouse models and to active disease in patients, suggesting tight regulation of this family of cytokines is critical to host resistance. In addition, the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 is known to inhibit the immune response to M. tuberculosis in murine models through the negative regulation of key proinflammatory cytokines and the subsequent Th1 response. We show in this study, using a combination of transcriptomic analysis, genetics, and pharmacological inhibitors, that the TPL-2-ERK1/2 signaling pathway is important in mediating host resistance to tuberculosis through negative regulation of type I IFN production. The TPL-2-ERK1/2 signaling pathway regulated production by macrophages of several cytokines important in the immune response to M. tuberculosis as well as regulating induction of a large number of additional genes, many in a type I IFN-dependent manner. In the absence of TPL-2 in vivo, excess type I IFN promoted IL-10 production and exacerbated disease. These findings describe an important regulatory mechanism for controlling tuberculosis and reveal mechanisms by which type I IFN may promote susceptibility to this important disease.

Influenza A virus impairs control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis coinfection through a type I interferon receptor-dependent pathway.

Influenza followed by severe acute bacterial pneumonia is a major cause of mortality worldwide. Several mechanisms account for this enhanced susceptibility, including increased production of type I interferon (IFN). In individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the influence of acute viral infections on tuberculosis progression is unclear. We show that prior exposure of mice to influenza A virus, followed by M. tuberculosis infection, leads to enhanced mycobacterial growth and decreased survival. Following M. tuberculosis/influenza virus coinfection, mycobacterial growth is enhanced by a type I IFN signaling pathway. Our findings highlight the detrimental influence influenza virus infection can have before or during M. tuberculosis infection.

Blockade of IL-10 signaling during bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination enhances and sustains Th1, Th17, and innate lymphoid IFN-γ and IL-17 responses and increases protection to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

Vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) remains the only prophylactic vaccine against tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but gives variable protection against pulmonary disease. The generation of host Th1 responses following BCG vaccination is accepted as the major mechanism of protection against M. tuberculosis infection. Early production of IL-17 in the lungs following M. tuberculosis challenge of mice previously vaccinated with M. tuberculosis peptides in adjuvant has been shown to be required for efficient Th1 cell recruitment. IL-10 regulates various processes involved in generation of Th1 and Th17 responses. Previous studies have shown IL-10 as a negative regulator of the immune response to primary M. tuberculosis infection, with Il10(-/-) mice having reduced lung bacterial loads. In this study we show that inhibition of IL-10 signaling during BCG vaccination enhances host-generated Ag-specific IFN-γ and IL-17A responses, and that this regimen gives significantly greater protection against aerogenic M. tuberculosis challenge in both susceptible and relatively resistant strains of mice. In M. tuberculosis-susceptible CBA/J mice, Ab blockade of IL-10R specifically during BCG vaccination resulted in additional protection against M. tuberculosis challenge of >1-log(10) compared with equivalent isotype-treated controls. The protection observed following BCG vaccination concurrent with anti-IL-10R mAb treatment was sustained through chronic M. tuberculosis infection and correlated with enhanced lung Th1 and Th17 responses and increased IFN-γ and IL-17A production by γδ T cells and an innate-like Thy1.2(+)CD3(-) lymphoid population. We show that IL-10 inhibits optimal BCG-elicited protection, therefore suggesting that antagonists of IL-10 may be of great benefit as adjuvants in preventive vaccination against tuberculosis.

Enhanced protection to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in IL-10-deficient mice is accompanied by early and enhanced Th1 responses in the lung.

IL-10 regulates the balance of an immune response between pathogen clearance and immunopathology. We show here that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection in the absence of IL-10 (IL-10(-/-) mice) results in reduced bacterial loads in the lung. This reduction was preceded by an accelerated and enhanced IFN-γ response in the lung, an increased influx of CD4(+) T cells into the lung, and enhanced production of chemokines and cytokines, including CXCL10 and IL-17, in both the lung and the serum. Neutralization of IL-17 affected neither the enhanced production of CXCL10 nor the accumulation of IFN-γ-producing T cells in the lungs, but led to reduced numbers of granulocytes in the lung and reduced bacterial loads in the spleens of Mtb-infected mice. This suggests that IL-17 may contribute to dissemination of Mtb.

Type I IFN exacerbates disease in tuberculosis-susceptible mice by inducing neutrophil-mediated lung inflammation and NETosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of mortality due to infectious disease, but the factors determining disease progression are unclear. Transcriptional signatures associated with type I IFN signalling and neutrophilic inflammation were shown to correlate with disease severity in mouse models of TB. Here we show that similar transcriptional signatures correlate with increased bacterial loads and exacerbate pathology during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection upon GM-CSF blockade. Loss of GM-CSF signalling or genetic susceptibility to TB (C3HeB/FeJ mice) result in type I IFN-induced neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation that promotes bacterial growth and promotes disease severity. Consistently, NETs are present in necrotic lung lesions of TB patients responding poorly to antibiotic therapy, supporting the role of NETs in a late stage of TB pathogenesis. Our findings reveal an important cytokine-based innate immune effector network with a central role in determining the outcome of M. tuberculosis infection.

Transcriptional profiling unveils type I and II interferon networks in blood and tissues across diseases.

Understanding how immune challenges elicit different responses is critical for diagnosing and deciphering immune regulation. Using a modular strategy to interpret the complex transcriptional host response in mouse models of infection and inflammation, we show a breadth of immune responses in the lung. Lung immune signatures are dominated by either IFN-γ and IFN-inducible, IL-17-induced neutrophil- or allergy-associated gene expression. Type I IFN and IFN-γ-inducible, but not IL-17- or allergy-associated signatures, are preserved in the blood. While IL-17-associated genes identified in lung are detected in blood, the allergy signature is only detectable in blood CD4+ effector cells. Type I IFN-inducible genes are abrogated in the absence of IFN-γ signaling and decrease in the absence of IFNAR signaling, both independently contributing to the regulation of granulocyte responses and pathology during Toxoplasma gondii infection. Our framework provides an ideal tool for comparative analyses of transcriptional signatures contributing to protection or pathogenesis in disease.

Induction of high levels of protective immunity in mice after vaccination using dendritic cells infected with auxotrophic mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Adoptively transferred dendritic cells presenting antigens derived from different pathogens have been shown to elicit specific T cell responses and to induce protective antibacterial immunity. We describe here the induction of high levels of protective immunity in mice using dendritic cells infected with auxotrophic mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We provide evidence that protection is superior to BCG and that it is associated with increased priming of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells specific for mycobacterial antigens. This method for generating high levels of anti-bacterial protective immunity could be helpful in the design of novel vaccines against tuberculosis and other intracellular pathogens.

Analysis of Transcriptional Signatures in Response to Listeria monocytogenes Infection Reveals Temporal Changes That Result from Type I Interferon Signaling.

Analysis of the mouse transcriptional response to Listeria monocytogenes infection reveals that a large set of genes are perturbed in both blood and tissue and that these transcriptional responses are enriched for pathways of the immune response. Further we identified enrichment for both type I and type II interferon (IFN) signaling molecules in the blood and tissues upon infection. Since type I IFN signaling has been reported widely to impair bacterial clearance we examined gene expression from blood and tissues of wild type (WT) and type I IFNαß receptor-deficient (Ifnar1-/-) mice at the basal level and upon infection with L. monocytogenes. Measurement of the fold change response upon infection in the absence of type I IFN signaling demonstrated an upregulation of specific genes at day 1 post infection. A less marked reduction of the global gene expression signature in blood or tissues from infected Ifnar1-/- as compared to WT mice was observed at days 2 and 3 after infection, with marked reduction in key genes such as Oasg1 and Stat2. Moreover, on in depth analysis, changes in gene expression in uninfected mice of key IFN regulatory genes including Irf9, Irf7, Stat1 and others were identified, and although induced by an equivalent degree upon infection this resulted in significantly lower final gene expression levels upon infection of Ifnar1-/- mice. These data highlight how dysregulation of this network in the steady state and temporally upon infection may determine the outcome of this bacterial infection and how basal levels of type I IFN-inducible genes may perturb an optimal host immune response to control intracellular bacterial infections such as L. monocytogenes.

Therapeutic efficacy of high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in mice.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is used to treat patients with primary antibody deficiencies and, at high doses, to treat a range of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. With high-dose IVIg (hdIVIg), immunomodulatory mechanisms act on a range of cells, including T cells, B cells, and dendritic cells. Here, we demonstrate that the treatment of M. tuberculosis-infected mice with a single cycle of hdIVIg resulted in substantially reduced bacterial loads in the spleen and lungs when administered at either an early or late stage of infection. Titration of the IVIg showed a clear dose-response effect. There was no reduction in bacterial load when mice were given equimolar doses of another human protein, human serum albumin, or maltose, the stabilizing agent in the IVIg preparation. HdIVIg in vitro had no inhibitory effect on the growth of M. tuberculosis in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages. In addition, the effect of hdIVIg on bacterial loads was not observed in nude mice, suggesting the involvement of conventional T cells. Analysis of T cells infiltrating the lungs revealed only small increases in CD8(+) but not CD4(+) T-cell numbers in hdIVIg-treated mice. The mechanism of action of hdIVIg against tuberculosis in mice remains to be determined. Nevertheless, since hdIVIg is already widely used clinically, the magnitude and long duration of the therapeutic effect seen here suggest that IVIg, or components of it, may find ready application as an adjunct to therapy of human tuberculosis.

A recA deletion mutant of Mycobacterium bovis BCG confers protection equivalent to that of wild-type BCG but shows increased genetic stability.

The widely used vaccine against tuberculosis, BCG, shows evidence of genetic instability. It has undergone major genetic rearrangements resulting in deletion and duplication of segments of its chromosome. In order to produce a BCG strain with more favourable genetic properties, we inactivated the recA gene. Targeted deletion of the recA gene of BCG resulted in a complete loss of recombination between homologous, chromosomally-located sequences, as well as between plasmid- and chromosomally-located sequences. The deltarecA mutant BCG was as effective as the wild-type in conferring protection in mice against an intravenous challenge with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis, indicating that the loss of an SOS response-mediated DNA repair mechanism did not compromise the immunological properties of BCG. The availability of a genetically stable, fully immunogenic BCG is important for the future development of BCG as a live vaccine.

RNA encoding the MPT83 antigen induces protective immune responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

We have previously demonstrated that vaccination of mice with plasmid DNA vectors expressing immunodominant mycobacterial genes induced cellular immune responses and significant protection against challenge with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We demonstrate here, using in vitro-synthesized RNA, that vaccination with DNA or RNA constructs expressing the M. tuberculosis MPT83 antigen are capable of inducing specific humoral and T-cell immune responses and confer modest but significant protection against M. tuberculosis challenge in mice. This is the first report of protective immunity conferred against intracellular bacteria by an RNA vaccine. This novel approach avoids some of the drawbacks of DNA vaccines and illustrates the potential for developing new antimycobacterial immunization strategies.

A heterologous DNA priming-Mycobacterium bovis BCG boosting immunization strategy using mycobacterial Hsp70, Hsp65, and Apa antigens improves protection against tuberculosis in mice.

Tuberculosis is responsible for >2 million deaths a year, and the number of new cases is rising worldwide. DNA vaccination combined with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) represents a potential strategy for prevention of this disease. Here, we used a heterologous prime-boost immunization approach using a combination of DNA plasmids and BCG in order to improve the efficacy of vaccination against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in mice. As model antigens, we selected the M. tuberculosis Apa (for alanine-proline-rich antigen) and the immunodominant Hsp65 and Hsp70 mycobacterial antigens combined with BCG. We demonstrated that animals injected with a combination of DNA vectors expressing these antigens, when boosted with BCG, showed increased specific antimycobacterial immune responses compared to animals vaccinated with BCG alone. More importantly, the protection achieved with this regimen was also significantly better than with BCG alone.

Antimycobacterial calixarenes enhance innate defense mechanisms in murine macrophages and induce control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in mice.

Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among infectious diseases, accounting for more than two million deaths annually. The incidence of the disease is increasing globally, partially because of the resurgence of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Calixarenes are macrocyclic oligomers, some of which are able to modify the growth of M. tuberculosis in infected cells. Most experimental work has been carried out with Macrocyclon, also known as HOC 12.5EO. In this study, we demonstrate that Macrocyclon is effective in controlling M. tuberculosis infections, and we provide evidence that its effect is partially mediated by an l-arginine-dependent mechanism of macrophage activation that involves the activity of the inducible nitric oxide synthase. We also show that Macrocyclon is effective in athymic and major histocompatibility complex class II-/- mice and synthesized a number of structurally related calixarenes expressing significant antimycobacterial activity.