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Daradoumis J, Müller MD, Neckermann P, Asbach B, Schrödel S, Thirion C, Wagner R, thor Straten P, Holst PJ, Boilesen D. Preferential Expansion of HPV16 E1-Specific T Cells from Healthy Donors' PBMCs after Ex Vivo Immunization with an E1E2E6E7 Fusion Antigen. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:5863. [PMID: 38136407 PMCID: PMC10741473 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15245863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is responsible for practically all cervical and a high proportion of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. Therapeutic HPV vaccines in clinical development show great promise in improving outcomes for patients who mount an anti-HPV T-cell response; however, far from all patients elicit a sufficient immunological response. This demonstrates a translational gap between animal models and human patients. Here, we investigated the potential of a new assay consisting of co-culturing vaccine-transduced dendritic cells (DCs) with syngeneic, healthy, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to mimic a human in vivo immunization. This new promising human ex vivo PBMC assay was evaluated using an innovative therapeutic adenovirus (Adv)-based HPV vaccine encoding the E1, E2, E6, and E7 HPV16 genes. This new method allowed us to show that vaccine-transduced DCs yielded functional effector T cells and unveiled information on immunohierarchy, showing E1-specific T-cell immunodominance over time. We suggest that this assay can be a valuable translational tool to complement the known animal models, not only for HPV therapeutic vaccines, and supports the use of E1 as an immunotherapeutic target. Nevertheless, the findings reported here need to be validated in a larger number of donors and preferably in patient samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Daradoumis
- InProTher ApS, Bioinnovation Institute, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; (M.D.M.); (P.J.H.)
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mikkel Dons Müller
- InProTher ApS, Bioinnovation Institute, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; (M.D.M.); (P.J.H.)
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Patrick Neckermann
- Institute of Medical Microbiology & Hygiene, Molecular Microbiology (Virology), University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Benedikt Asbach
- Institute of Medical Microbiology & Hygiene, Molecular Microbiology (Virology), University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
| | | | | | - Ralf Wagner
- Institute of Medical Microbiology & Hygiene, Molecular Microbiology (Virology), University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
- Institute of Clinical Microbiology and Hygiene, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Per thor Straten
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital, 2730 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Peter Johannes Holst
- InProTher ApS, Bioinnovation Institute, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; (M.D.M.); (P.J.H.)
| | - Ditte Boilesen
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Loma Therapeutics ApS, Bioinnovation Institute, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Kuehner F, Stubenrauch F. Functions of Papillomavirus E8^E2 Proteins in Tissue Culture and In Vivo. Viruses 2022; 14:v14050953. [PMID: 35632695 PMCID: PMC9143700 DOI: 10.3390/v14050953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Papillomaviruses (PV) replicate in undifferentiated keratinocytes at low levels and to high levels in differentiated cells. The restricted replication in undifferentiated cells is mainly due to the expression of the conserved viral E8^E2 repressor protein, a fusion protein consisting of E8 and the hinge, DNA-binding, and dimerization domain of E2. E8^E2 binds to viral genomes and represses viral transcription and genome replication by recruiting cellular NCoR/SMRT-HDAC3 corepressor complexes. Tissue culture experiments have revealed that E8^E2 modulates long-term maintenance of extrachromosomal genomes, productive replication, and immortalization properties in a virus type-dependent manner. Furthermore, in vivo experiments have indicated that Mus musculus PV1 E8^E2 is required for tumor formation in immune-deficient mice. In summary, E8^E2 is a crucial inhibitor whose levels might determine the outcome of PV infections.
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EXPRESSION OF E8^E2 IS REQUIRED FOR WART FORMATION BY MOUSE PAPILLOMAVIRUS 1 IN VIVO. J Virol 2021; 95:JVI.01930-20. [PMID: 33472931 PMCID: PMC8103706 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01930-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV) E1 and E2 proteins activate genome replication. E2 also modulates viral gene expression and is involved in the segregation of viral genomes. In addition to full length E2, almost all PV share the ability to encode an E8^E2 protein, that is a fusion of E8 with the C-terminal half of E2 which mediates specific DNA-binding and dimerization. HPV E8^E2 acts as a repressor of viral gene expression and genome replication. To analyze the function of E8^E2 in vivo, we used the Mus musculus PV1 (MmuPV1)-mouse model system. Characterization of the MmuPV1 E8^E2 protein revealed that it inhibits transcription from viral promoters in the absence and presence of E1 and E2 proteins and that this is partially dependent upon the E8 domain. MmuPV1 genomes, in which the E8 ATG start codon was disrupted (E8-), displayed a 10- to 25-fold increase in viral gene expression compared to wt genomes in cultured normal mouse tail keratinocytes in short-term experiments. This suggests that the function and mechanism of E8^E2 is conserved between MmuPV1 and HPVs. Surprisingly, challenge of athymic nude Foxn1nu/nu mice with MmuPV1 E8- genomes did not induce warts on the tail in contrast to wt MmuPV1. Furthermore, viral gene expression was completely absent at E8- MmuPV1 sites 20 - 22 weeks after DNA challenge on the tail or quasivirus challenge in the vaginal vault. This reveals that expression of E8^E2 is necessary to form tumors in vivo and that this is independent from the presence of T-cells.IMPORTANCE HPV encode an E8^E2 protein which acts as repressors of viral gene expression and genome replication. In cultured normal keratinocytes, E8^E2 is essential for long-term episomal maintenance of HPV31 genomes, but not for HPV16. To understand E8^E2's role in vivo, the Mus musculus PV1 (MmuPV1)-mouse model system was used. This revealed that E8^E2's function as a repressor of viral gene expression is conserved. Surprisingly, MmuPV1 E8^E2 knock out genomes did not induce warts in T-cell deficient mice. This shows for the first time that expression of E8^E2 is necessary for tumor formation in vivo independently of T cell immunity. This indicates that E8^E2 could be an interesting target for anti-viral therapy in vivo.
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