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BRIEF DEFINITIVE REPORT |
CORRESPONDENCE Carlo Ferrari: cafer{at}tin.it
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is believed to infect
In this paper, we report an association between a peculiar hierarchy of immunodominance of HCV-specific CD8 responses, cross-reactivity between HCV- and influenza-specific CD8 cells and a severe clinical course of hepatitis C. Our results suggest a role for CD8 cross-reactivity in influencing the severity of the HCV-associated liver pathology and depicts a model of disease induction that may apply to different viral infections in which immunopathology is sustained by the antiviral immune response.
170 million people worldwide and represents one of the leading causes of liver disease, which is sustained primarily by the immune response to HCV. The majority of HCV-infected people develop chronic hepatitis, and the acute phase of infection is frequently asymptomatic. Clinical symptoms are present in approximately one third of acute infections acquired as an adult and are extremely heterogeneous, as is the case with many other human viral infections. They are generally mild, but some cases of hepatitis C can run an extremely severe course that is noted with a marked elevation of serum enzymes, which is indicative of liver cell damage (alanine aminotransferase [ALT]), and with clear signs of a loss of hepatic function (e.g., elevated bilirubin and prolonged prothrombin time; references 1, 2). Unfortunately, the mechanisms responsible for these different courses and outcomes are unknown. Differences in the infection dose, viral strain, and genetic make-up of the host have been used to explain such variability. A further possibility is that the variability in the pathology caused by viral infections strictly reflects different profiles of T cell immunodominance and different kinetics of T cell responses. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in mice, and it is caused by the presence of a large repertoire of memory T cells from earlier infections that can cross-react with a second infecting viral pathogen, which leads to a massive recruitment of preexisting memory cells into a primary immune response (36).
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Results AND Discussion
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Abstract
Results AND Discussion
MATERIALS AND METHODS
References
To characterize HCV-specific CD8 T cellmediated responses associated with severe liver pathology in acute HCV infection, we analyzed the global profile of the HCV-specific T cell response in eight patients who showed variable outcomes of acute HCV infection (Fig. 1 A). Two individuals (Fig. 1 A, patients 1 and 2) that were infected with genotype 1b HCV showed a severe clinical course of acute hepatitis C with rapidly rising bilirubin levels, elevated ALT values, and prolonged prothrombin time (Fig. 1, B and C). Six patients (patients 38) that were also infected by genotype 1 HCV displayed a mild course of liver disease, as generally observed after HCV infection (Fig. 1). A comprehensive analysis of the HCV-specific T cell repertoire was performed using a panel of 601 15-mer peptides overlapping by 10 residues and spanning the entire HCV sequence of genotype 1a. Direct ex vivo frequency of IFN-
producing T cells was evaluated in patients 15 and 8 (Fig. 2, A and B) in the acute phase of infection at the peak of ALT. A dramatic difference in the T cell repertoire was evident in the two patient populations. Although T cell responses were narrowly focused on a few peptide pools in patients 1 and 2 (Fig. 2 A), simultaneous recognition of multiple HCV sequences was detected in patients 35 and 8 (Fig. 2 B), as previously described in recovered and acutely infected patients (79).
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production. These broad T cell responses were directed toward all viral antigens and different peptide mixtures induced responses of different intensity, ranging from 50 to 1,100 spot-forming cells (SFC)/106 PBMCs in patient 3, from 500 to 3,700 in patient 4, from 50 to 920 in patient 5, and from 45 to 1,000 in patient 8. Further analysis performed by ICS to identify the individual epitopes showed that many peptides were recognized by patients 35 and 8. The responses were sustained by a mixed activation of both CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets (unpublished data). In contrast, only a single sequence containing the previously described HLA-A2restricted NS3 10731081 CD8 epitope (10) was identified in patients 1 and 2. The profound immunodominance of NS3 10731081specific CD8+ T cells in these HLA-A2+ patients was confirmed by direct ex vivo tetramer staining for five distinct HCV epitopes (1114). Confirming the data obtained with ELISPOT, both patients showed extremely elevated frequencies of NS3 10731081-specific CD8 T cells, whereas other specificities were negative also using peptides of optimal length for CD8 T cell recognition and corresponding to well-characterized HLA-A2restricted epitopes. NS3 10731081 tetramer+ CD8 T cells reached values of 36 and 12% of the total CD8 T cells in patients 1 and 2 (Fig. 3 A). These frequencies were much higher than those previously reported in acute HCV infection (1517) and those detected in three subjects with mild course of infection who were analyzed for comparison (Fig. 3 B). The phenotypic analysis of the tetramer+ cells in the five patients showed an identical maturation stage (effector-memory stage). Almost all tetramer+ cells were CCR7, CD45RA, and CD27, and predominantly HLA-DR+ and CD69+ (unpublished data).
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A possible interpretation of these results is that the dramatic expansion of NS3 1073specific CD8 T cells in patients 1 and 2 was related to the presence of a private repertoire of memory T cells able to cross-react with the HCV sequence. The high degree of homology reported between HCV NS3 10731081 and influenza NA 231239 sequences (10) supports this possibility. Moreover, T cell cross-reactivity between these two HCV and influenza sequences was observed in humans (HCV-infected patients and healthy HCV-uninfected subjects) and in HLA-A2+ transgenic mice (10). In addition, severe immunopathology after viral infection was shown to be caused in mice by the expansion of memory T cells from an earlier infection that cross-reacted with a second unrelated heterologous virus (36). Homology of the NS3 10731081 and the influenza NA 231239 sequences was confirmed in our study by sequence analysis of the NS3 region performed on individual cDNA clones (18) in the patients with severe liver pathology (patients 1 and 2). Furthermore, database analysis indicates that the influenza NA 231239 epitope is highly conserved among the published influenza sequences of H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes that are the only influenza subtypes isolated during the last 15 yr in the geographical region where the patients lived.
To determine whether potentially cross-reactive CD8 T cells were present in patients with severe liver pathology, direct ex vivo IFN-
ELISPOT analysis was performed in patients 1 and 2 (severe liver pathology) and in patients 6 and 7 (milder disease) for comparison. Although all patients showed a flu matrix 5866specific CD8 T cell response, demonstrating prior sensitization to influenza, NA 231 influenzaspecific cells were detected exclusively in patients 1 and 2 (Fig. 4 A).
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production (Fig. 4 C) selectively among NS3 10731081 tetramer+ cells, but not among the tetramer CD8 T cell subset.
In keeping with ex vivo experiments, cross-recognition of HCV NS3 1073 and flu NA 231 peptides was observed in NS3-specific and flu NAspecific T cell lines derived from patients 1 and 2 but not in NS3-specific lines derived from patients 3 and 7 (Fig. 4 D). Furthermore, IFN-
production upon NA 231239 peptide stimulation was restricted to the NS3 10731081 tetramer+ CD8 fraction of the NS3-specific lines in patient 1 (Fig. 4 D). Finally, cytotoxicity experiments performed using HCV NS3 1073specific T cell lines derived from patients 1 and 3 confirmed the selective presence of cross-reactivity in patients with severe liver pathology (Fig. 4 E).
Together, these data show that although sensitization to influenza is a very common event, the individual private repertoire of memory T cells seems to be the limiting factor for cross-reactivity between HCV and influenza to occur. A private T cell repertoire of HCV/influenza cross-reactive T cells was present exclusively in the patients with severe hepatic immunopathology. In this setting, reactivation of preexisting influenza-specific memory CD8+ T cells by a primary HCV infection may have resulted in the strong immunodominance of the NS3 1073specific CD8+ T cell response present in these two patients. Notably, the kinetics of expansion and contraction of HCV-specific CD8+ T cell responses in patient 1 further supports the possibility that memory CD8+ T cells able to cross-react with the HCV NS3 1073 sequence were actually present. In this patient, a massive expansion (36%) of NS3 1073specific CD8+ T cells was already detectable as early as 23 wk from the time of a previous hospitalization, which likely corresponds to the time of infection. In contrast, other HCV-specific CD8+ T cells (against the NS5 sequence 19922000) increased their frequency at later time points, when the NS3 1073specific response was already in a contracting phase (Fig. 5). Because memory T cells exhibit a more rapid response than naive T cells, the differential kinetics of HCV-specific CD8 T cells specific for different epitopes located in nonstructural proteins further supports the view that NS3 1073 cross-reactive memory T cells were present before HCV infection. This rapid appearance of NS3 1073specific T cell responses is also different from the kinetics reported in patients accidentally infected by needlestick exposure to HCV positive blood (17) and in primary infection of chimpanzees (20) in which HCV-specific T cell responses were detectable only
2 mo after infection.
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Although NS3-specific CD8 T cells expanded rapidly and vigorously, the virus was not efficiently controlled and liver pathology was severe. HCV chronicity could not be attributed, at least in patient 2, to the development of escape mutants because in this subject a longitudinal analysis of the NS3 1073 sequence was performed over a 9-mo period and mutations within this region were not found. Thus, a robust, but isolated, response to the NS3 1073 epitope seems inadequate for viral control. A poor CD4 T cell response may have contributed to the lack of antiviral efficacy of the NS3-specific CD8 T cell response (21). Alternatively, the absence of a concomitant multispecific CD8 T cell response might be implicated in the inability to control HCV. The inability of NS3-specific CD8+ T cells to efficiently control viral replication within the liver may have also contributed to the severity of liver cell damage. Intrahepatic activation of a large quantity of HCV-specific CD8 T cells with poor antiviral function might have sustained a massive recruitment of nonspecific immune cells causing severe liver inflammation (22). These findings are also a warning about the development of antiviral vaccines. Focusing the CD8 T cell response on single immunodominant epitope with poor antiviral efficacy may have severe pathological consequences.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Synthetic peptides, peptide-HLA class I tetramers, and antibodies.
Synthetic peptides representing the HLA-A2restricted epitopes HCV NS3 10731081 (CINGVCWTV), NS3 14061415 (KLVALGINAV), NS4 18121820 (LLFNILGGWV), NS4B 19922000 (VLSDFKTWL), NS5 25942602 (ALYDVVTKL), influenza virus NA 231239 (CVNGSCFTV), and MA 5866 (GILGFVFTL), and a panel of 601 15-mer peptides overlapping by 10 residues and covering the overall sequence of HCV-1 were purchased from Chiron Mimotopes. PE-labeled tetrameric peptideHLA class I complexes were purchased from Proimmune LTD. HLA A2 tetramers contained the HCV peptides NS3 10731081, NS3 14061415, NS4 18121820, NS4B 19922000, and NS5 25942602.
In vitro expansion of HCV-specific CD8 T cells.
PBMCs were resuspended in 96-well plates at a concentration 2 x 106/ml and stimulated with HCV peptides at a final concentration of 1 µM. Recombinant IL-2 was added on day 4 of culture (50 UI/ml) and the immunological assays were performed on day 10.
Cell surface and intracellular staining, ELISA.
Staining with tetramers and other surface markers and IFN-
staining were performed as described previously (15).
ELISPOT assay.
601 15-mer peptides, based on a genotype 1a sequence (HCV-1) covering all structural (core, E1, and E2) and nonstructural (NS3, NS4, and NS5) HCV regions and overlapping by 10 residues, were pooled in 119 mixtures, each containing 10 synthetic peptides. HCV-specific T cell responses were analyzed upon overnight stimulation with individual peptide mixtures. ELISPOT assay was performed as described previously (23). Plates were counted using an automated ELISPOT reader (AID Elispot Reader System; Autoimmune Diagnostika Gmbh). IFN-
producing cells were expressed as SFC per 106 cells. The number of specific IFN-
secreting PBMCs was calculated by subtracting the unstimulated control value from the stimulated sample. Unstimulated wells never exceeded five to seven spots per well. Positive controls consisted of PBMCs stimulated with PHA. Wells were considered positive if they were at least two times above background.
Chromium release assay.
Cytotoxic activity was assessed by incubating peptide-stimulated PBMCs with peptide-pulsed 51Cr-labeled, HLA-A2matched EBV-transformed B cells as targets for 4 h in round-bottom 96-well plates. Percent-specific lysis was calculated as described previously (15). 51Cr released in the presence of culture medium ranged between 15 and 25% of total releasable counts. To adopt very stringent criteria and avoid the risk of false positive results, only levels of CTL lysis
13% were considered significant.
| Acknowledgments |
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The study was supported by grant RBNE013PMJ_006 from Fondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di BaseMinistry of Education, University and Research (FIRB-MIUR), by grant 120 (Progetto di Ricerca Finalizzato) Ministry of Health, Italy and by European Union grant QLK2-CT-2002-00700.
The authors have no conflicting financial interests.
Submitted: 28 May 2004
Accepted: 20 January 2005
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