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Schlott F, Steubl D, Ameres S, Moosmann A, Dreher S, Heemann U, Hösel V, Busch DH, Neuenhahn M. Characterization and clinical enrichment of HLA-C*07:02-restricted Cytomegalovirus-specific CD8+ T cells. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0193554. [PMID: 29489900 PMCID: PMC5831000 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2017] [Accepted: 02/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation remains a major source of morbidity in patients after solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) with CMV-specific T cells is a promising therapeutic approach for HSCT recipients, but might be counteracted by CMV’s immune evasion strategies. HLA-C*07:02 is less susceptible to viral immune evasion suggesting HLA-C*07:02-restricted viral epitopes as promising targets for ACT. For a better understanding of HLA-C*07:02-restricted CMV-specific T cells we used recently generated reversible HLA-C*07:02/IE-1 multimers (Streptamers) recognizing a CMV-derived Immediate-Early-1 (IE-1) epitope and analyzed phenotypic and functional T cell characteristics. Initially, we detected very high frequencies of HLA-C*07:02/IE-1 multimer+ T cells (median = 11.35%), as well as robust functional responses after stimulation with IE-1 peptide (IFNγ+; median = 5.02%) in healthy individuals. However, MHC-multimer+ and IFNγ-secreting T cell frequencies showed a relatively weak correlation (r2 = 0.77), which could be attributed to an unexpected contribution of CMV-epitope-independent KIR2DL2/3-binding of HLA-C*07:02/IE-1 multimers. Therefore, we developed a MHC-multimer double-staining approach against a cancer epitope-specific HLA-C*07:02 multimer to identify truly HLA-C*07:02/IE-1 epitope-specific T cells. The frequencies of these truly HLA-C*07:02/IE-1 multimer+ T cells were still high (median = 6.86%) and correlated now strongly (r2 = 0.96) with IFNγ-secretion. Interestingly, HLA-C*07:02/IE-1-restricted T cells contain substantial numbers with a central memory T cell phenotype, indicating high expansion potential e.g. for ACT. In line with that, we developed a clinical enrichment protocol avoiding epitope-independent KIR-binding to make HLA-C*07:02/IE-1-restricted T cells available for ACT. Initial depletion of KIR-expressing CD8+ T cells followed by HLA-C*07:02/IE-1 Streptamer positive selection using paramagnetic labeling techniques allowed to enrich successfully HLA-C*07:02/IE-1-restricted T cells. Such specifically enriched populations of functional HLA-C*07:02/IE-1-restricted T cells with significant central memory T cell content could become a potent source for ACT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Schlott
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- DZIF—National Centre for Infection Research, Munich, Germany
| | - Dominik Steubl
- Department of Nephrology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Stefanie Ameres
- DZIF Research Group "Host Control of Viral Latency and Reactivation" (HOCOVLAR), Research Unit Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany
| | - Andreas Moosmann
- DZIF—National Centre for Infection Research, Munich, Germany
- DZIF Research Group "Host Control of Viral Latency and Reactivation" (HOCOVLAR), Research Unit Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Munich, Germany
| | - Stefan Dreher
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Uwe Heemann
- DZIF—National Centre for Infection Research, Munich, Germany
- Department of Nephrology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Volker Hösel
- Technical University Munich, Chair of Biomathematics, Garching, Germany
| | - Dirk H. Busch
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- DZIF—National Centre for Infection Research, Munich, Germany
| | - Michael Neuenhahn
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- DZIF—National Centre for Infection Research, Munich, Germany
- * E-mail:
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Han SH. Immunological Prediction of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Replication Risk in Solid Organ Transplantation Recipients: Approaches for Regulating the Targeted Anti-CMV Prevention Strategies. Infect Chemother 2017; 49:161-175. [PMID: 29027383 PMCID: PMC5620383 DOI: 10.3947/ic.2017.49.3.161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The current cytomegalovirus (CMV) prevention strategies in solid organ transplantation (SOT) recipients have contributed towards overcoming the detrimental effects caused by CMV lytic infection, and improving the long-term success rate of graft survival. Although the quantification of CMV in peripheral blood is the standard method, and an excellent end-point for diagnosing CMV replication and modulating the anti-CMV prevention strategies in SOT recipients, a novel biomarker mimicking the CMV control mechanism is required. CMV-specific immune monitoring can be employed as a basic tool predicting CMV infection or disease after SOT, since uncontrolled CMV replication mostly originates from the impairment of immune responses against CMV under immunosuppressive conditions in SOT recipients. Several studies conducted during the past few decades have indicated the possibility of measuring the CMV-specific cell-mediated immune response in clinical situations. Among several analytical assays, the most advancing standardized tool is the QuantiFERON®-CMV assay. The T-Track® CMV kit that uses the standardized enzyme-linked immunospot assay is also widely employed. In addition to these assays, immunophenotyping and intracellular cytokine analysis using flow cytometry (with fluorescence-labeled monoclonal antibodies or peptide-major histocompatibility complex multimers) needs to be adequately standardized and validated for potential clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sang Hoon Han
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
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Calarota SA, Aberle JH, Puchhammer-Stöckl E, Baldanti F. Approaches for monitoring of non virus-specific and virus-specific T-cell response in solid organ transplantation and their clinical applications. J Clin Virol 2015; 70:109-119. [PMID: 26305832 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcv.2015.07.299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2015] [Revised: 06/18/2015] [Accepted: 07/20/2015] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Opportunistic viral infections are still a major complication following solid organ transplantation. Immune monitoring may allow the identification of patients at risk of infection and, eventually, the modulation of immunosuppressive strategies. Immune monitoring can be performed using virus-specific and non virus-specific assays. This article describes and summarizes the pros and cons of the different technical approaches. Among the assays based on non virus-specific antigens, the enumeration of T-cell subsets, the quantification of cytokines and chemokines and the quantification of intracellular adenosine triphosphate following mitogen stimulation are described and their clinical applications to determine the risk for viral infection are discussed. In addition, current specific methods available for monitoring viral-specific T-cell responses are summarized, such as peptide-MHC multimer staining, intracellular cytokine staining, enzyme-linked immunospot and virus-specific IFN-γ ELISA assays, and their clinical applications to determine the individual risk for opportunistic viral infections with human cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus and polyoma BK virus are discussed. The standardization of the procedure, the choice of the antigen(s) and the criteria to define cut-off values for positive responses are needed for some of these approaches before their implementation in the clinic. Nevertheless, immune monitoring combined with virological monitoring in transplant recipients is increasingly regarded as a helpful tool to identify patients at risk of infection as well as to assess treatment efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra A Calarota
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Via Taramelli 5, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Judith H Aberle
- Department of Virology, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1095 Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Fausto Baldanti
- Molecular Virology Unit, Microbiology and Virology Department, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Via Taramelli 5, 27100 Pavia, Italy; Department of Clinical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Viale Brambilla 74, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
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