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Puerta CJ, Cuellar A, Lasso P, Mateus J, Gonzalez JM. Trypanosoma cruzi-specific CD8 + T cells and other immunological hallmarks in chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy: Two decades of research. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2023; 12:1075717. [PMID: 36683674 PMCID: PMC9846209 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.1075717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas disease, has coexisted with humans for thousands of years. Therefore, the parasite has developed several mechanisms of antigenic variability that has allowed it to live inside the cells and evade the host immune response. Since T. cruzi displays an intracellular cycle-stage, our research team focused on providing insights into the CD8+ T cells immune response in chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy. We began our work in the 2000s studying parasite antigens that induce natural immune responses such as the KMP11 protein and TcTLE, its N-terminal derived peptide. Different approaches allowed us to reveal TcTLE peptide as a promiscuous CD8+ T cell epitope, able of inducing multifunctional cellular immune responses and eliciting a humoral response capable of decreasing parasite movement and infective capacity. Next, we demonstrated that as the disease progresses, total CD8+ T cells display a dysfunctional state characterized by a prolonged hyper-activation state along with an increase of inhibitory receptors (2B4, CD160, PD-1, TIM-3, CTLA-4) expression, an increase of specific terminal effector T cells (TTE), a decrease of proliferative capacity, a decrease of stem cell memory (TSCM) frequency, and a decrease of CD28 and CD3ζ expression. Thus, parasite-specific CD8+ T cells undergo clonal exhaustion, distinguished by an increase in late-differentiated cells, a mono-functional response, and enhanced expression of inhibitory receptors. Finally, it was found that anti-parasitic treatment induces an improved CD8+ T cell response in asymptomatic individuals, and a mouse animal model led us to establish a correlation between the quality of the CD8+ T cell responses and the outcome of chronic infection. In the future, using OMICs strategies, the identification of the specific cellular signals involved in disease progression will provide an invaluable resource for discovering new biomarkers of progression or new vaccine and immunotherapy strategies. Also, the inclusion of the TcTLE peptide in the rational design of epitope-based vaccines, the development of immunotherapy strategies using TSCM or the blocking of inhibitory receptors, and the use of the CD8+ T cell response quality to follow treatments, immunotherapies or vaccines, all are alternatives than could be explored in the fight against Chagas disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Concepción J. Puerta
- Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, Infectious Diseases Group, Department of Microbiology, School of Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Adriana Cuellar
- Clinical Laboratory Sciences Group, Department of Microbiology, School of Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Paola Lasso
- Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, Infectious Diseases Group, Department of Microbiology, School of Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Jose Mateus
- Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, Infectious Diseases Group, Department of Microbiology, School of Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - John M. Gonzalez
- Group of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
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Gibadullin R, Randall CJ, Sidney J, Sette A, Gellman SH. Backbone Modifications of HLA-A2-Restricted Antigens Induce Diverse Binding and T Cell Activation Outcomes. J Am Chem Soc 2021; 143:6470-6481. [PMID: 33881854 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c00016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
CD8+ T cells express T cell receptors (TCRs) that recognize short peptide antigens in the context of major histocompatibility class I (MHC I) molecules. This recognition process produces an array of cytokine-mediated signals that help to govern immunological responses. Design of biostable MHC I peptide vaccines containing unnatural subunits is desirable, and synthetic antigens in which a native α-amino acid residue is replaced by a homologous β-amino acid residue (native side chain but extended backbone) might be useful in this regard. We have evaluated the impact of α-to-β backbone modification at a single site on T cell-mediated recognition of six clinically important viral and tumor-associated antigens bound to an MHC I. Effects of this modification on MHC I affinity and T cell activation were measured. Many of these modifications diminish or prevent T cell response. However, a number of α/β-peptide antigens were found to mimic the activity of natural antigens or to enhance maximal T cell response, as measured by interferon-γ release. Results from this broad exploratory study advance our understanding of immunological responses to antigens bearing unnatural modifications and suggest that α/β-peptides could be a source of potent and proteolytically stable variants of native antigens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruslan Gibadullin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Caleb J Randall
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - John Sidney
- Division of Vaccine Discovery, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Alessandro Sette
- Division of Vaccine Discovery, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, California 92037, United States.,Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, California 92093, United States
| | - Samuel H Gellman
- Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, 1101 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
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Pierini S, Perales-Linares R, Uribe-Herranz M, Pol JG, Zitvogel L, Kroemer G, Facciabene A, Galluzzi L. Trial watch: DNA-based vaccines for oncological indications. Oncoimmunology 2017; 6:e1398878. [PMID: 29209575 DOI: 10.1080/2162402x.2017.1398878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2017] [Accepted: 10/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
DNA-based vaccination is a promising approach to cancer immunotherapy. DNA-based vaccines specific for tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) are indeed relatively simple to produce, cost-efficient and well tolerated. However, the clinical efficacy of DNA-based vaccines for cancer therapy is considerably limited by central and peripheral tolerance. During the past decade, considerable efforts have been devoted to the development and characterization of novel DNA-based vaccines that would circumvent this obstacle. In this setting, particular attention has been dedicated to the route of administration, expression of modified TAAs, co-expression of immunostimulatory molecules, and co-delivery of immune checkpoint blockers. Here, we review preclinical and clinical progress on DNA-based vaccines for cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Pierini
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Ovarian Cancer Research Center (OCRC), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Renzo Perales-Linares
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Ovarian Cancer Research Center (OCRC), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Mireia Uribe-Herranz
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Ovarian Cancer Research Center (OCRC), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jonathan G Pol
- Université Paris Descartes/Paris V, France.,Université Pierre et Marie Curie/Paris VI, Paris.,Equipe 11 labellisée Ligue contre le Cancer, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Paris, France.,INSERM, Paris, France
| | - Laurence Zitvogel
- Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Villejuif, France.,INSERM, Villejuif, France.,Center of Clinical Investigations in Biotherapies of Cancer (CICBT), Villejuif, France.,Université Paris Sud/Paris XI, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France
| | - Guido Kroemer
- Université Paris Descartes/Paris V, France.,Université Pierre et Marie Curie/Paris VI, Paris.,Equipe 11 labellisée Ligue contre le Cancer, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Paris, France.,INSERM, Paris, France.,Metabolomics and Cell Biology Platforms, Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Villejuif, France.,Karolinska Institute, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.,Pôle de Biologie, Hopitâl Européen George Pompidou, AP-HP; Paris, France
| | - Andrea Facciabene
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Ovarian Cancer Research Center (OCRC), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Lorenzo Galluzzi
- Université Paris Descartes/Paris V, France.,Department of Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.,Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
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Minigo G, Flanagan KL, Slattery RM, Plebanski M. Vaccination with Altered Peptide Ligands of a Plasmodium berghei Circumsporozoite Protein CD8 T-Cell Epitope: A Model to Generate T Cells Resistant to Immune Interference by Polymorphic Epitopes. Front Immunol 2017; 8:115. [PMID: 28261200 PMCID: PMC5306364 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many pathogens, including the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, display high levels of polymorphism within T-cell epitope regions of proteins associated with protective immunity. The T-cell epitope variants are often non-cross-reactive. Herein, we show in a murine model, which modifies a protective CD8 T-cell epitope from the circumsporozoite protein (CS) of Plasmodium berghei (SYIPSAEKI), that simultaneous or sequential co-stimulation with two of its putative similarly non-cross-reactive altered peptide ligand (APL) epitopes (SYIPSAEDI or SYIPSAEAI) has radically different effects on immunity. Hence, co-immunization or sequential stimulation in vivo of SYIPSAEKI with its APL antagonist SYIPSAEDI decreases immunity to both epitopes. By contrast, co-immunization with SYIPSAEAI has no apparent initial effect, but it renders the immune response to SYIPSAEKI resistant to being turned off by subsequent immunization with SYIPSAEDI. These results suggest a novel strategy for vaccines that target polymorphic epitopes potentially capable of mutual immune interference in the field, by initiating an immune response by co-immunization with the desired index epitope, together with a carefully selected "potentiator" APL peptide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Minigo
- Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia
| | - Katie L Flanagan
- Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - Robyn M Slattery
- Diabetes Laboratory, Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University , Melbourne, VIC , Australia
| | - Magdalena Plebanski
- Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Immunology and Pathology, Monash University , Melbourne, VIC , Australia
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Rekoske BT, Smith HA, Olson BM, Maricque BB, McNeel DG. PD-1 or PD-L1 Blockade Restores Antitumor Efficacy Following SSX2 Epitope-Modified DNA Vaccine Immunization. Cancer Immunol Res 2015; 3:946-55. [PMID: 26041735 DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.cir-14-0206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2014] [Accepted: 05/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
DNA vaccines have demonstrated antitumor efficacy in multiple preclinical models, but low immunogenicity has been observed in several human clinical trials. This has led to many approaches seeking to improve the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines. We previously reported that a DNA vaccine encoding the cancer-testis antigen SSX2, modified to encode altered epitopes with increased MHC class I affinity, elicited a greater frequency of cytolytic, multifunctional CD8(+) T cells in non-tumor-bearing mice. We sought to test whether this optimized vaccine resulted in increased antitumor activity in mice bearing an HLA-A2-expressing tumor engineered to express SSX2. We found that immunization of tumor-bearing mice with the optimized vaccine elicited a surprisingly inferior antitumor effect relative to the native vaccine. Both native and optimized vaccines led to increased expression of PD-L1 on tumor cells, but antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells from mice immunized with the optimized construct expressed higher PD-1. Splenocytes from immunized animals induced PD-L1 expression on tumor cells in vitro. Antitumor activity of the optimized vaccine could be increased when combined with antibodies blocking PD-1 or PD-L1, or by targeting a tumor line not expressing PD-L1. These findings suggest that vaccines aimed at eliciting effector CD8(+) T cells, and DNA vaccines in particular, might best be combined with PD-1 pathway inhibitors in clinical trials. This strategy may be particularly advantageous for vaccines targeting prostate cancer, a disease for which antitumor vaccines have demonstrated clinical benefit and yet PD-1 pathway inhibitors alone have shown little efficacy to date.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian T Rekoske
- Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Heath A Smith
- Department of Oncology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Brian M Olson
- The Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Brett B Maricque
- The Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Douglas G McNeel
- Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin. The Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
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Smith HA, Rekoske BT, McNeel DG. DNA vaccines encoding altered peptide ligands for SSX2 enhance epitope-specific CD8+ T-cell immune responses. Vaccine 2014; 32:1707-15. [PMID: 24492013 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.01.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2013] [Revised: 12/19/2013] [Accepted: 01/18/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Plasmid DNA serves as a simple and easily modifiable form of antigen delivery for vaccines. The USDA approval of DNA vaccines for several non-human diseases underscores the potential of this type of antigen delivery method as a cost-effective approach for the treatment or prevention of human diseases, including cancer. However, while DNA vaccines have demonstrated safety and immunological effect in early phase clinical trials, they have not consistently elicited robust anti-tumor responses. Hence many recent efforts have sought to increase the immunological efficacy of DNA vaccines, and we have specifically evaluated several target antigens encoded by DNA vaccine as treatments for human prostate cancer. In particular, we have focused on SSX2 as one potential target antigen, given its frequent expression in metastatic prostate cancer. We have previously identified two peptides, p41-49 and p103-111, as HLA-A2-restricted SSX2-specific epitopes. In the present study we sought to determine whether the efficacy of a DNA vaccine could be enhanced by an altered peptide ligand (APL) strategy wherein modifications were made to anchor residues of these epitopes to enhance or ablate their binding to HLA-A2. A DNA vaccine encoding APL modified to increase epitope binding elicited robust peptide-specific CD8+ T cells producing Th1 cytokines specific for each epitope. Ablation of one epitope in a DNA vaccine did not enhance immune responses to the other epitope. These results demonstrate that APL encoded by a DNA vaccine can be used to elicit increased numbers of antigen-specific T cells specific for multiple epitopes simultaneously, and suggest this could be a general approach to improve the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines encoding tumor antigens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heath A Smith
- Department of Oncology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| | - Brian T Rekoske
- Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| | - Douglas G McNeel
- Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA.
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Birnbaum ME, Dong S, Garcia KC. Diversity-oriented approaches for interrogating T-cell receptor repertoire, ligand recognition, and function. Immunol Rev 2013; 250:82-101. [PMID: 23046124 DOI: 10.1111/imr.12006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Molecular diversity lies at the heart of adaptive immunity. T-cell receptors and peptide-major histocompatibility complex molecules utilize and rely upon an enormous degree of diversity at the levels of genetics, chemistry, and structure to engage one another and carry out their functions. This high level of diversity complicates the systematic study of important aspects of T-cell biology, but recent technical advances have allowed for the ability to study diversity in a comprehensive manner. In this review, we assess insights gained into T-cell receptor function and biology from our increasingly precise ability to assess the T-cell repertoire as a whole or to perturb individual receptors with engineered reagents. We conclude with a perspective on a new class of high-affinity, non-stimulatory peptide ligands we have recently discovered using diversity-oriented techniques that challenges notions for how we think about T-cell receptor signaling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael E Birnbaum
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Program in Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, USA
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