The effect of specific antibody on the generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and the recovery of mice from influenza virus infection

The unmet need in the elderly: Designing new influenza vaccines for older adults

Influenza is a serious illness and probably the single most important cause of excess disability and mortality during the winter months. In spite of limited efficacy in older adults, influenza vaccination is nevertheless a cost-saving medical intervention since it does reduce hospitalisation and death rates due to pneumonia, exacerbations of heart failure and, surprisingly, heart attacks and strokes. Yet hospitalisation and death rates for acute respiratory illnesses continue to rise in spite of widespread vaccination programs. As a person ages, the immune response to antigenic stimulation with the influenza virus shifts toward T helper type 2 cytokine production. This is associated with a relative reduction in cytotoxic T-cell activity and a reduced capacity to destroy infected host cells and clear the virus from infected lung tissue. Breakthrough strategies to improve the current influenza vaccines are required to avoid a crisis in health care. A targeted approach will develop vaccines that can reverse these age-related changes in T-cell responses, particularly the functions of cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

Induction of protective cytotoxic T cell responses in the presence of high titers of virus-neutralizing antibodies: implications for passive and active immunization

The effect of preexistent virus-neutralizing antibodies on the active induction of antiviral T cell responses was studied in two model infections in mice. Against the noncytopathic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), pretreatment with neutralizing antibodies conferred immediate protection against systemic virus spread and controlled the virus below detectable levels. However, presence of protective antibody serum titers did not impair induction of antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses after infection with 10(2) PFU of LCMV. These CTLs efficiently protected mice independent of antibodies against challenge with LCMV-glycoprotein recombinant vaccinia virus; they also protected against otherwise lethal lymphocytic choriomeningitis caused by intracerebral challenge with LCMV-WE, whereas transfused antibodies alone did not protect, and in some cases even enhanced, lethal lymphocytic choriomeningitis. Against the cytopathic vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), specific CTLs and Th cells were induced in the presence of high titers of VSV-neutralizing antibodies after infection with 10(6) PFU of VSV, but not at lower virus doses. Taken together, preexistent protective antibody titers controlled infection but did not impair induction of protective T cell immunity. This is particularly relevant for noncytopathic virus infections since both virus-neutralizing antibodies and CTLs are essential for continuous virus control. Therefore, to vaccinate against such viruses parallel or sequential passive and active immunization may be a suitable vaccination strategy to combine advantages of both virus-neutralizing antibodies and CTLs.

Immunological and virological analyses of persons infected by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 while participating in trials of recombinant gp120 subunit vaccines

We have studied 18 participants in phase I/II clinical trials of recombinant gp120 (rgp120) subunit vaccines (MN and SF-2) who became infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) during the course of the trials. Of the 18 individuals, 2 had received a placebo vaccine, 9 had been immunized with MN rgp120, and seven had been immunized with SF-2 rgp120. Thirteen of the 18 infected vaccinees had received three or four immunizations prior to becoming infected. Of these, two were placebo recipients, six had received MN rgp120, and five had received SF-2 rgp120. Only 1 of the 11 rgp120 recipients who had multiple immunizations failed to develop a strong immunoglobulin G antibody response to the immunogen. However, the antibody response to rgp120 was transient, typically having a half-life of 40 to 60 days. No significant neutralizing activity against the infecting strain was detected in any of the infected individuals at any time prior to infection. Antibody titers in subjects infected despite vaccination and in noninfected subjects were not significantly different. Envelope-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses measured after infection were infrequent and weak in the nine vaccinees who were tested. HIV-1 was isolated successfully from all 18 individuals. Sixteen of these strains had a non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) phenotype, while two had a syncytium-inducing (SI) phenotype. NSI strains used the CCR5 coreceptor to enter CD4+ cells, while an SI strain from one of the vaccinees also used CXCR4. Viruses isolated from the blood of rgp120 vaccinees were indistinguishable from viruses isolated from control individuals in terms of their inherent sensitivity to neutralization by specific monoclonal antibodies and their replication rates in vitro. Furthermore, genetic sequencing of the env genes of strains infecting the vaccinees did not reveal any features that clearly distinguished these viruses from contemporary clade B viruses circulating in the United States. Thus, despite rigorous genetic analyses, using various breakdowns of the data sets, we could find no evidence that rgp120 vaccination exerted selection pressure on the infecting HIV-1 strains. The viral burdens in the infected rgp120 vaccine recipients were also determined, and they were found to be not significantly different from those in cohorts of placebo-vaccinated and nonvaccinated individuals. In summary, we conclude that vaccination with rgp120 has had,to date, no obvious beneficial or adverse effects on the individuals we have studied.

Recombinant vaccine vector-induced protection of athymic, nude mice from influenza A virus infection. Analysis of protective mechanisms

Athymic, nude mice, which normally succumb to virus infection, can resolve infection with recombinant vaccinia virus (rVV) engineered to express IL-2. We have demonstrated that interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) produced by natural killer (NK) cells and other immunocytes in response to the virus-encoded interleukin-2 (IL-2) is crucial to recovery. Here, we extend this work to show that nude mice, when primed intravenously with rVV co-expressing both IL-2 and an influenza virus haemagglutinin (HA) gene, are also protected following challenge with a lethal dose of homologous influenza virus. A substantial increase in the number of influenza virus-reactive antibody-secreting cells producing antibody of the IgM isotype, but not of the IgG or IgA isotypes, was found in spleens and lungs of the protected mice. Treatment with monoclonal antibodies to IFN-gamma or to the NK marker, as GM1, at challenge and thereafter, led to their death however, though the specific IgM antibody response was unaffected. These data suggest that both specific antibody and non-specific antiviral reactivity are important elements of the protective response and show that this immunization strategy may be used to protect severely immunocompromised individuals.

Killer T cell responses to influenza A during a drift period: studies in mice

After intravenous immunization of mice with any influenza A H3N2 drift strain attempts to restimulation of cytotoxic T cell (CTL) activities with the same virus or other drift period variants were unsuccessful for up to 6 weeks. Cross-stimulation 4-5 months after primary sensitization yielded, in most situations, positive but lower--as compared to primary--secondary cytotoxic T cell responses. Homotypic challenge was also effective after priming with some influenza A subtypes (A/E/72, A/PC/73, A/T/77) at this time.

Modification of cytotoxic T-cell response patterns by administration of hemagglutinin-specific monoclonal antibodies to mice infected with influenza A viruses

Mice injected with any influenza A virus develop a range of virus-immune cytotoxic T lymphocytes, some of which tend to be more lytic for cells expressing the virus used for priming (subtype-specific) while others are cross-reactive for targets infected with all influenza A viruses. Treatment with large doses of either of two monoclonal antibodies (which bind to the influenza virus hemagglutinin molecule) at 3-48 h after exposure to virus tends to selectively block the generation of the more subtype-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte subset, although the magnitude of cross-reactive effector function may also be diminished. Inhibition that is less obviously selective is also seen for a third monoclonal antibody. A reasonable explanation for these findings is that there is afferent blockage at the level of T-cell recognition of the influenza virus hemagglutinin molecule expressed on stimulator cells. The inhibitory effect of the monoclonal antibody is apparently steric. Priming with parental strain virus followed by exposure to monoclonal antibody induces a population of cytotoxic T lymphocytes which manifest decreased cytotoxic activity for target cells infected with either the parental strain virus or with a variant virus to which the monoclonal antibody does not bind. A more practical consideration is that the administration of large doses of specific immunoglobulin may interfere with the development of cell-mediated immune mechanisms. This should be considered when developing possible therapeutic protocols using monoclonal antibodies.

Cells mediating delayed-type hypersensitivity in the lungs of mice infected with an influenza A virus

Effector cells that demonstrate delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) on transfer with antigen to naive mice can be recovered from the lungs of mice inoculated intranasally 6 days earlier with a lethal dose (usually 5x10(1)EID50) of influenza A virus. The activity recovered was proportional to the dose of virus instilled intranasally and the extent of lung consolidation observed. Active cells could also be recovered from the draining lymph nodes and from the peripheral blood. The effector cells were identified as T lymphocytes of Ly 1 phenotype and required I-region sharing between donor and recipient for activity to be elicited. They were cross-reactive within the A group of influenza viruses. Two experiments are reported in which immune cell preparations that expressed DTH activity but had very little cytotoxic T cell activity were transferred to mice inoculated 1 or 2 days earlier with a lethal dose of virus. The mice were not protected from death, and in both experiments, the recipient mice died more rapidly than the controls. These results contrast with earlier results in which cell preparations with high cytotoxic T-cell activity were shown to protect recipient infected mice from death.

Selective suppression of the cytotoxic T cell response to influenza virus in mice

Mice injected with inactivated (UV light-irradiated) influenza virus produce specific antibody, become sensitized for a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction, but do not generate specific cytotoxic T (Tc) cells. If injected 4-5 days later with infectious virus, the formation of Tc cells is suppressed by > 90%. If A strain viruses are used, the suppression observed is cross-reactive within A strain viruses but does not extend to B/LEE or to Sendai virus. Serum from mice injected with UV-irradiated virus contains antibodies which on adoptive transfer can inhibit Tc cell formation when infectious homologous virus is used to challenge the recipients. Spleen cells from the same mice, upon adoptive transfer, also inhibit (50-70%) Tc cell formation if transferred within 24 h of injection of infectious virus, and the specificity pattern observed is cross-reactive within A strains. The activity of the cells mediating suppression is destroyed by monospecific anti-Thy-1.2 antibody and complement. The immune cells require I region sharing between donor and recipient mice for their suppressor activity to be effective. (There is also a partial requirement for K, D region sharing, but the possible rejection of transferred cells is not excluded.) Dilution assays in which clonal expansion of Tc precursors is used to estimate their frequency and the presence of T helper (Th) cells indicate that suppressed mice possess Tc precursors and primed cells which, upon restimulation, act as Th cells. Furthermore, injection of irradiated Th cells with inactivated virus does not significantly reduce the ensuing suppression.