Peripheral canine CD4(+)CD8(+) double-positive T cells - unique amongst others

A review of CD4+ T cell differentiation and diversity in dogs

CD4+ T cells are an integral component of the adaptive immune response, carrying out many functions to combat a diverse range of pathogenic challenges. These cells exhibit remarkable plasticity, differentiating into specialized subsets such as T helper type 1 (TH1), TH2, TH9, TH17, TH22, regulatory T cells (Tregs), and follicular T helper (TFH) cells. Each subset is capable of addressing a distinct immunological need ranging from pathogen eradication to regulation of immune homeostasis. As the immune response subsides, CD4+ T cells rest down into long-lived memory phenotypes-including central memory (TCM), effector memory (TEM), resident memory (TRM), and terminally differentiated effector memory cells (TEMRA) that are localized to facilitate a swift and potent response upon antigen re-encounter. This capacity for long-term immunological memory and rapid reactivation upon secondary exposure highlights the role CD4+ T cells play in sustaining both adaptive defense mechanisms and maintenance. Decades of mouse, human, and to a lesser extent, pig T cell research has provided the framework for understanding the role of CD4+ T cells in immune responses, but these model systems do not always mimic each other. Although our understanding of pig immunology is not as extensive as mouse or human research, we have gained valuable insight by studying this model. More akin to pigs, our understanding of CD4+ T cells in dogs is much less complete. This disparity exists in part because canine immunologists depend on paradigms from mouse and human studies to characterize CD4+ T cells in dogs, with a fraction of available lineage-defining antibody markers. Despite this, every major CD4+ T cell subset has been described to some extent in dogs. These subsets have been studied in various contexts, including in vitro stimulation, homeostatic conditions, and across a range of disease states. Canine CD4+ T cells have been categorized according to lineage-defining characteristics, trafficking patterns, and what cytokines they produce upon stimulation. This review addresses our current understanding of canine CD4+ T cells from a comparative perspective by highlighting both the similarities and differences from mouse, human, and pig CD4+ T cell biology. We also discuss knowledge gaps in our current understanding of CD4+ T cells in dogs that could provide direction for future studies in the field.

Canine peripheral non-conventional TCRαβ+ CD4-CD8α- double-negative T cells show T helper 2-like and regulatory properties

The dog is an important companion animal and also serves as model species for human diseases. Given the central role of T cells in immune responses, a basic understanding of canine conventional T cell receptor (TCR)αβ+ T cells, comprising CD4+ single-positive (sp) T helper (Th) and CD8α+ sp cytotoxic T cell subsets, is available. However, characterization of canine non-conventional TCRαβ+ CD4+CD8α+ double-positive (dp) and TCRαβ+ CD4-CD8α- double-negative (dn) T cells is limited. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of canine dp and dn T cells in comparison with their conventional counterparts. TCRαβ+ T cells from peripheral blood of healthy dogs were sorted according to their CD4/CD8α phenotype into four populations (i.e. CD4+ sp, CD8α+ sp, dp, and dn) and selected surface markers, transcription factors and effector molecules were analyzed ex vivo and after in vitro stimulation by RT-qPCR. Novel characteristics of canine dp T cells were identified, expanding the previously characterized Th1-like phenotype to Th17-like and Th2-like properties. Overall, mRNA expression of various Th cell-associated cytokines (i.e. IFNG, IL17A, IL4, IL13) in dp T cells upon stimulation highlights their versatile immunological potential. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the CD4-CD8α- dn phenotype is stable during in vitro stimulation. Strikingly, dn T cells were found to express highest mRNA levels of type 2 effector cytokines (IL4, IL5, and IL13) upon stimulation. Their strong ability to produce IL-4 was confirmed at the protein level. Upon stimulation, the percentage of IL-4-producing cells was even higher in the non-conventional dn than in the conventional CD4+ sp population. Constitutive transcription of IL1RL1 (encoding IL-33Rα) further supports Th2-like properties within the dn T cell population. These data point to a role of dn T cells in type 2 immunity. In addition, the high potential of dn T cells to transcribe the gene encoding the co-inhibitory receptor CTLA-4 and to produce the inhibitory cytokine IL-10 indicates putative immunosuppressive capacity of this population. In summary, this study reveals important novel aspects of canine non-conventional T cells providing the basis for further studies on their effector and/or regulatory functions to elucidate their role in health and disease.

Characterization of T-cell subsets in response to foot-and-mouth disease bivalent inactivated vaccine in Chinese Holstein cows

IMPORTANCE

Vaccination plays a crucial role in the prevention and control of FMD; however, outbreaks persist occurring worldwide. Assessing the immune response to FMD vaccines is essential for effective prevention of FMD. In this study, a seven-color flow cytometry protocol was developed to systematically evaluate the T-cell response of Chinese Holstein cows vaccinated with FMD bivalent inactivated vaccine. Our findings showed that while most T-cell subsets (%) decreased post-vaccination, a significant increase was observed in CD4+CD8+ DP T cells, which was consistent with the levels of specific foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) antibodies. These findings suggested that CD4+CD8+ DP T cells could serve as a potential biomarker for the evaluation of cellular and humoral responses to FMDV vaccination. Additionally, we should be aware of the potential decline in cellular immunity among cattle during FMD vaccination, as this may increase the risk of other pathogen-related issues.

CITEMOXMBD: A flexible single-cell multimodal omics analysis framework to reveal the heterogeneity of immune cells

Simultaneous measurement of multiple modalities in single-cell analysis, represented by CITE-seq, is a promising approach to link transcriptional changes to cellular phenotype and function, requiring new computational methods to define cellular subtypes and states based on multiple data types. Here, we design a flexible single-cell multimodal analysis framework, called CITEMO, to integrate the transcriptome and antibody-derived tags (ADT) data to capture cell heterogeneity from the multi omics perspective. CITEMO uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to obtain a low-dimensional representation of the transcriptome and ADT, respectively, and then employs PCA again to integrate these low-dimensional multimodal data for downstream analysis. To investigate the effectiveness of the CITEMO framework, we apply CITEMO to analyse the cell subtypes of Cord Blood Mononuclear Cells (CBMC) samples. Results show that the CITEMO framework can comprehensively analyse single-cell multimodal samples and accurately identify cell subtypes. Besides, we find some specific immune cells that co-express multiple ADT markers. To better describe the co-expression phenomenon, we introduce the co-expression entropy to measure the heterogeneous distribution of the ADT combinations. To further validate the robustness of the CITEMO framework, we analyse Human Bone Marrow Cell (HBMC) samples and identify different states of the same cell type. CITEMO has an excellent performance in identifying cell subtypes and states for multimodal omics data. We suggest that the flexible design idea of CITEMO can be an inspiration for other single-cell multimodal tasks. The complete source code and dataset of the CITEMO framework can be obtained from https://github.com/studentiz/CITEMO.

Isolation and immunophenotyping by flow cytometry of canine peripheral blood and intraepithelial and lamina propria duodenal T lymphocytes

The gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) effector sites play a crucial role on the pathogenesis of many immune-mediated gastrointestinal diseases. The lymphocytes at these effector sites are principally T cells which present important morphological, phenotypical and functional differences. Flow cytometry (FC) is one of the most commonly used techniques to characterize intestinal lymphocytes in human and animal models. Published studies with a focus on dogs for intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) immunophenotyping exist in very limited numbers. Moreover, no lamina propria lymphocytes (LPL) isolation protocols in the canine species have been described for FC evaluation. In addition to immune intestinal dysregulation, imbalances in the peripheral blood immune system have been described in both human and animal gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this study was to provide a protocol for canine IEL and LPL isolation for FC immunophenotyping of T cells subsets. Specifically, T helper, T cytotoxic, activated Th and Tc lymphocytes, regulatory, double negative, double positive, IFN-γ and IL-4 producing T cells, and to compare their respective populations between these effector sites and with the blood stream compartment in healthy dogs. The potential relationship of these cells distributions with age, sex and breed was also evaluated. This study included sixteen healthy dogs of different sexes and breeds with a mean age of 4.55 ± 2.93 years old. The selected protocols for the three immune compartments showed proper cell yield, purity, viability, and the absence of phenotypic and functional disturbances. Histologically, an adequate separation of the duodenal epithelium from the lamina propria was also observed. All the proposed T cells subsets were identified in the three immune compartments studied, showing some statistically significant differences in their distributions at these locations that highlight the importance of their individual evaluation. This study provides an adequate method for canine small intestine IEL and LPL isolation for FC immunophenotyping and is key for future studies on the gastrointestinal immune system associated with different canine diseases.

Decreased CD4+CD8low T cells in early HIV infection are associated with rapid disease progression

BACKGROUND

HIV rapid progressors (RPs) present with a rapid decline of CD4⁺ T cells within a few years of infection. Determining the underlying mechanisms throughout this decline is important to identify prognostic biomarkers and intervention strategies. Determining the numbers of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells is essential for monitoring the immune status of HIV infected patients. There are additional kinds of cell subtypes in T cells, but their relationship to the rapid progression of HIV disease is not well defined.

METHODS

Nineteen RPs and twenty-one chronic progressors (CPs) were enrolled in this study. Based on the intensity of CD4 and CD8 expression, different T cell subtypes were identified, including CD4⁺CD8⁺T cells, CD4^-CD8^- T cells, CD4⁺CD8^low T cells and CD4^-CD8^low T cells. Alterations in these T cell subtypes in early HIV infection (within 120 days of infection) between RPs and CPs were measured, and the relationships between these subtypes and HIV disease progression were investigated. In addition, expression of IFN-γ in T cell subtypes after PMA stimulation was analyzed by flow cytometry.

RESULTS

We found that during early HIV infection, CD4⁺CD8^low T cells both significantly decreased in numbers and percentages in RPs compared to CPs. Furthermore, baseline CD4⁺CD8^low T cells positively correlated not only with baseline CD4⁺T cells but also with CD4⁺T cells 12 months after infection. Moreover, survival analysis indicated that low levels of baseline CD4⁺CD8low T cells significantly accelerated the decline in CD4⁺ T cells as well as increased viral loads. CD4⁺CD8^low T cells secreted significantly more IFN-γ after PMA stimulation compared to CD4⁺CD8^-T cells and CD4^-CD8⁺T cells, which may be beneficial for the prevention of disease progression.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results identified that in early stage HIV-1 infection, a subtype of T cells, CD4⁺CD8^low, are associated with subsequent disease progression.

Canine distemper virus increased the differentiation of CD4+CD8+ T cells and mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines in peripheral blood lymphocyte from canine

BACKGROUND

Canine distemper virus (CDV) can cause a highly contagious disease to canid. However, how CDV affects peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) remains unclear.

METHODS

In this study, CDV infected PBL was cultured to investigate the effect of CDV on the differentiation of lymphocytes and the mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines in PBL.

RESULTS

The results showed that CDV changed the phenotype of lymphocytes and increased the percentage of CD4⁺CD8⁺ T cells. To explore the effect of immune response of lymphocytes to CDV, the mRNA expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines was examined. Interleukin (IL-6, IL-12B), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α mRNA expression was significantly increased at 12-48 h after CDV infection. IL-10 mRNA expression was dramatically enhanced at 12-36 h after CDV infection. However, IL-4 and transforming growth factor (TGF-β) were not response to CDV infection. These results indicated that PBL differentiated intoCD4⁺CD8⁺ T cells and improved the inflammatory response to CDV infection.

CONCLUSIONS

After CDV infection, PBL differentiated into CD4⁺CD8⁺ T cells and initiated inflammatory response.

Zoonotic intestinal helminths interact with the canine immune system by modulating T cell responses and preventing dendritic cell maturation

Parasite co-evolution alongside the mammalian immune system gave rise to several modulatory strategies by which they prevent exaggerated pathology and facilitate a longer worm survival. As little is known about the immunoregulatory potential of the zoonotic canine parasites Ancylostoma caninum and Toxocara canis in the natural host, the present study aimed to investigate whether their larval excretory-secretory (ES) products can modulate the canine immune system. We demonstrated TcES to increase the frequency of CD4+ Foxp3^high T cells, while both AcES and TcES were associated with elevated Helios expression in Foxp3^high lymphocytes. ES products were further capable of inducing IL-10 production by lymphocytes, which was mainly attributed to CD8+ T cells. ES treatment of PBMCs prior to mitogen stimulation inhibited polyclonal proliferation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Moreover, monocyte-derived ES-pulsed dendritic cells reduced upregulation of MHC-II and CD80 in response to lipopolysaccharide. The data showed that regulation of the canine immune system by A. caninum and T. canis larvae comprises the modification of antigen-specific and polyclonal T cell responses and dendritic cell maturation.

CD4+CD8β+ double-positive T cells in skin-draining lymph nodes respond to inflammatory signals from the skin

CD4⁺CD8⁺ double-positive (DP), mature, peripheral T cells are readily detectable in a variety of species and tissues. Despite a common association with autoimmune and malignant skin disorders, however, little is understood about their role or function. Herein, we show that DP T cells are readily detectable in the blood, spleen, and peripheral lymph nodes of naïve C57BL/6 mice. DP T cells were also present in Jα18^-/- and CD1d^-/- mice, indicating that these cells are not NK-T cells. After skin administration of CASAC adjuvant, but not Quil A adjuvant, both total DP T cells and skin-infiltrating DP T cells increased in number. We explored the possibility that DP T cells could represent aggregates between CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ single-positive T cells and found strong evidence that a large proportion of apparent DP T cells were indeed aggregates. However, the existence of true CD4⁺CD8⁺ DP T cells was confirmed by Amnis ImageStream (Millipore Sigma, Billerica, MA, USA) imaging. Multiple rounds of FACS sorting separated true DP cells from aggregates and indicated that conventional analyses may lead to ∼10-fold overestimation of DP T cell numbers. The high degree of aggregate contamination and overestimation of DP abundance using conventional analysis techniques may explain discrepancies reported in the literature for DP T cell origin, phenotype, and function.

T lymphocyte immunophenotypes in the cerebrospinal fluid of dogs with visceral leishmaniasis

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a disease causing several clinical manifestations in dogs, including neurological disorders. Nevertheless, there are few studies related to the evaluation of the brain alterations during VL. Evidences of the involvement of cerebral barriers in infected dogs was reported, including the presence of brain inflammatory infiltrate, with a predominance of CD3+ T cells. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the immunophenotypes of T lymphocytes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as well as in peripheral blood, and to correlate with brain alterations in dogs with VL. We detected elevated percentages of double negative (DN) and double positive (DP) T cells in the CSF, with a predominance of TCRαb. In the histopathological analysis, we observed a predominance of lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate, mainly in leptomeninges, ranging from mild to intense, and we observed a positive correlation between the intensity of inflammation in the subependymal area and the DN T cells of the CSF. Thus, the DN T cells seem be acting as villains of the immune system through pro-inflammatory mechanisms. Further, the proportion of the different population of CSF T cells did not differ from those observed in the blood, which provides us with more evidence of blood-CSF barrier breakdown. Together, the results provide more explanation to the inflammation observed in the brain of dogs with VL, which the DN T cells contribute to the origin and progression of the neurological disease. This study provides insight into the immunophenotypes of T lymphocytes in the CSF during canine visceral leishmaniasis.