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Fischer F, Mücke J, Werny L, Gerrer K, Mihatsch L, Zehetmaier S, Riedel I, Geisperger J, Bodenhausen M, Schulte-Hillen L, Hoffmann D, Protzer U, Mautner J, Behrends U, Bauer T, Körber N. Evaluation of novel Epstein-Barr virus-derived antigen formulations for monitoring virus-specific T cells in pediatric patients with infectious mononucleosis. Virol J 2024; 21:139. [PMID: 38877590 PMCID: PMC11179387 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-024-02411-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) elicits a complex T-cell response against a broad range of viral proteins. Hence, identifying potential differences in the cellular immune response of patients with different EBV-associated diseases or different courses of the same disorder requires interrogation of a maximum number of EBV antigens. Here, we tested three novel EBV-derived antigen formulations for their ability to reactivate virus-specific T cells ex vivo in patients with EBV-associated infectious mononucleosis (IM). METHODS We comparatively analyzed EBV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to three EBV-derived antigen formulations in 20 pediatric patients during the early phase of IM: T-activated EBV proteins (BZLF1, EBNA3A) and EBV-like particles (EB-VLP), both able to induce CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses ex vivo, as well as an EBV-derived peptide pool (PP) covering 94 well-characterized CD8+ T-cell epitopes. We assessed the specificity, magnitude, kinetics, and functional characteristics of EBV-specific immune responses at two sequential time points (v1 and v2) within the first six weeks after IM symptom onset (Tonset). RESULTS All three tested EBV-derived antigen formulations enabled the detection of EBV-reactive T cells during the early phase of IM without prior T-cell expansion in vitro. EBV-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were mainly mono-functional (CD4+: mean 64.92%, range 56.15-71.71%; CD8+: mean 58.55%, range 11.79-85.22%) within the first two weeks after symptom onset (v1) with IFN-γ and TNF-secreting cells representing the majority of mono-functional EBV-reactive T cells. By contrast, PP-reactive CD8+ T cells were primarily bi-functional (>60% at v1 and v2), produced IFN-γ and TNF and had more tri-functional than mono-functional components. We observed a moderate correlation between viral load and EBNA3A, EB-VLP, and PP-reactive CD8+ T cells (rs = 0.345, 0.418, and 0.356, respectively) within the first two weeks after Tonset, but no correlation with the number of detectable EBV-reactive CD4+ T cells. CONCLUSIONS All three EBV-derived antigen formulations represent innovative and generic recall antigens suitable for monitoring EBV-specific T-cell responses ex vivo. Their combined use facilitates a thorough analysis of EBV-specific T-cell immunity and allows the identification of functional T-cell signatures linked to disease development and severity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Fischer
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Johannes Mücke
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Louisa Werny
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich, Schneckenburgerstr. 8, 81675, Munich, Germany
| | - Katrin Gerrer
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Lorenz Mihatsch
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Stefanie Zehetmaier
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Research Unit Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Isa Riedel
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Jonas Geisperger
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Maren Bodenhausen
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Lina Schulte-Hillen
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Dieter Hoffmann
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich, Schneckenburgerstr. 8, 81675, Munich, Germany
| | - Ulrike Protzer
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich, Schneckenburgerstr. 8, 81675, Munich, Germany
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich, Germany
| | - Josef Mautner
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich, Schneckenburgerstr. 8, 81675, Munich, Germany
- Research Unit Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich, Germany
| | - Uta Behrends
- Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Research Unit Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich, Germany
| | - Tanja Bauer
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich, Schneckenburgerstr. 8, 81675, Munich, Germany
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich, Germany
| | - Nina Körber
- Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich, Schneckenburgerstr. 8, 81675, Munich, Germany.
- German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich, Germany.
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Amarillo ME, Moyano A, Ferressini Gerpe N, De Matteo E, Preciado MV, Chabay P. Tonsillar cytotoxic CD4 T cells are involved in the control of EBV primary infection in children. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2135. [PMID: 38273012 PMCID: PMC10810912 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52666-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
CD4 T cells play a key role in Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infection, by modulating latent antigen expression, and exhibiting cytotoxic and regulatory properties. Our aim was to evaluate the presence of Granzyme B (GZMB) and Foxp3 CD4 T cells at different EBV infection status and latency profiles. We examined CD4, GZMB, Foxp3, IL10, TGF-β, CD4-GZMB and CD4-Foxp3 expression at the tonsils of pediatric patients with different infective status and EBV latency profiles. CD4+, GZMB+, Foxp3+, CD4-GZMB+ and CD4-Foxp3+ cell counts were higher at the interfollicular region. Higher expression of CD4-GZMB was found in primary infected patients compared to healthy carriers. In patients that expressed latency III antigens, we demonstrated lower CD4+, CD4-GZMB+, CD4-Foxp3+ expression; a negative correlation between the immunoregulatory cytokine IL-10+ and GZMB+ as well as a positive correlation of IL-10+ and CD4+. In patients expressing the lytic protein BMRF1, a positive correlation of TGF-β+ with CD4-GZMB+ and CD4-Foxp3+ was observed. Our findings indicate that CD4-GZMB+ cells are involved in the restriction of primary EBV infection in pediatric patients, which could partially explain the lack of symptoms, whereas both CD4-GZMB+ and CD4-Foxp3+ cells could be involved in the modulation of latency.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Eugenia Amarillo
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Pathology Division, Multidisciplinary Institute for Investigation in Pediatric Pathologies (IMIPP), CONICET-GCBA, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Agustina Moyano
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Pathology Division, Multidisciplinary Institute for Investigation in Pediatric Pathologies (IMIPP), CONICET-GCBA, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Natalia Ferressini Gerpe
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Pathology Division, Multidisciplinary Institute for Investigation in Pediatric Pathologies (IMIPP), CONICET-GCBA, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Elena De Matteo
- Pathology Division, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, C1425EFD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Maria Victoria Preciado
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Pathology Division, Multidisciplinary Institute for Investigation in Pediatric Pathologies (IMIPP), CONICET-GCBA, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Paola Chabay
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Pathology Division, Multidisciplinary Institute for Investigation in Pediatric Pathologies (IMIPP), CONICET-GCBA, Ricardo Gutierrez Children's Hospital, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Yoshiyama H, Nanbo A, Yasuda T. How Should We Deal with Neoplastic Disease and Serious Infections Caused by Epstein-Barr Virus? Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15112889. [PMID: 37296852 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15112889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus, but also the first discovered human tumor virus [...].
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Affiliation(s)
- Hironori Yoshiyama
- Department of Microbiology, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine, Shimane 693-8501, Japan
| | - Asuka Nanbo
- National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
| | - Tomoharu Yasuda
- Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan
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