Effect of Mediators of Innate Immunity and Inflammation on CD8+ Veto Cells

Induction of B-cell immune tolerance by antigen-modified cytotoxic T lymphocytes

BACKGROUND

Third-party-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), or veto CTL, are being assessed as a cellular therapeutic for the induction of T-cell tolerance during transplantation. Conceptually, veto cell-expressed antigens (Ags) may induce B-cell immune responses, and this may have deleterious consequences. Whether veto cells induce immunity, tolerance, or are ignored by B lymphocytes has, however, not been addressed.

METHODS

CTL were retrovirally transduced with a model cell surface Ag to generate veto CTL. The impact of CTL-specific Ag expression on the activation and tolerization of Ag-specific B cells was assessed in vitro and, using adoptive transfer models, in vivo.

RESULTS

In vitro, CTL-expressed Ag induced an abortive proliferative response in specific B lymphocytes, whereby an initial proliferative burst was followed by cell death. In vivo, the administration of veto CTL also induced B-cell tolerance. Specific immunoglobulin was not detected after subsequent immunization with a veto cell-expressed Ag. Modeling of this effect with Ag-specific B-cell receptor transgenic B lymphocytes demonstrated that Ag-specific B cells were eliminated by the veto CTL; the cell division was accompanied by the exhaustion and depletion of responding cells. Veto-induced B-cell tolerance could be wholly abrogated by treatment with the toll-like receptor ligand lipopolysaccharide, implying that this tolerance resulted from the absence of adequate supplemental signals during antigenic stimulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Veto CTL are effective promoters of B-cell tolerance. Further assessment of their therapeutic potential in this regard is warranted.

Rapamycin Prolongs Susceptibility of Responding T Cells to Tolerance Induction by CD8+ Veto Cells

BACKGROUND

CD8 veto cells are an antigen-specific immunoregulatory cell type that induces tolerance by causing apoptosis in T cells that recognize antigens on the veto cell. However, responding T cells are only susceptible to veto based deletion for a 48-hour window, which represents a severe limitation to the use of veto cells as a cellular therapeutic. Several immunosuppresant drugs inhibit T cell differentiation at distinct points. We hypothesized that immunosuppresants, which arrest T cell differentiation, would maintain responding T cells in a vetoable state.

METHODS

CD8 veto cells were generated from BALB/c (H-2) mice. The 2C transgenic mouse, which expresses a T cell receptor specific for L was used to visualize responding cells. Veto activity was measured by both visualizing apoptosis of the responding 2C T cells and by measuring a decrease in lysis of H-2 targets. Several immunosuppressant drugs were tested for their effect on veto cell activity.

RESULTS

BALB/c veto cells exhibited a potent and antigen-specific deletion of 2C responder cells, but not mature 2C effectors. The addition of rapamycin significantly extended the window of opportunity to veto based deletion by preventing the responding 2C T cells from differentiating out of a vetoable state.

CONCLUSION

These findings demonstrate that by utilizing rapamycin, the window of opportunity for veto-based induction of tolerance to transplantation antigens is significantly extended. This approach circumvents a serious obstacle in the development of veto cells as an efficacious cellular therapy to induce allospecific tolerance to transplantation antigens.