Ex vivo imaging immune cell interactions in T cell vaccine-induced immunity and CD8+CD25+ T regulatory cell-mediated immune suppression

Abstract

The ultimate goal of antitumor vaccines is to develop memory CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), which are critical mediators of antitumor immunity. Previous work in our lab demonstrated that the ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD4+ T cell-based (OVA-TEXO) vaccine generated using OVA-pulsed dendritic cell (DCOVA)-released exosomes (EXOOVA) stimulates CTL responses via interleukin (IL)-2 and costimulatory CD80 signaling. To assess the potential involvement of other costimulatory pathways and to define the key constituent of costimulation for memory CTL development, we first immunized wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 and gene-knockout mice with WT CD4+ OVA-TEXO cells or OVA-TEXO cells with various molecular deficiencies. We then assessed OVA-specific primary and recall CTL responses using PE-H-2Kb/OVA257–264 tetramer and FITC-anti-CD8 antibody staining by flow cytometry. We also examined antitumor immunity against the OVA-expressing B16 melanoma cell line BL6-10OVA. We demonstrate that CD4+ OVA-TEXO cells form immunological synapses with cognate CD8+ T cells in vitro. By assessment of the pattern of ex vivo interactions between OTI CD8+ T cells and OVA-TEXO or (Kb-/-)TEXO cells lacking peptide/major histocompatibitity complex (pMHC)-I expression, we provide the first visible evidence on the critical role of exosomal pMHC-I in targeting OVA-TEXO to cognate CD8+ T cells using two-photon microscopy. By assessing primary and recall CTL responses in mice immunized with OVA-TEXO cells or with OVA-TEXO cells lacking the costimulatory molecules CD40L, 4-1BBL or OX40L, we demonstrated that these costimulatory signals are dispensable for CTL priming by OVA-TEXO cells. Interestingly, CD40L, but not 4-1BBL or OX40L, plays a crucial role in the development of functional memory CTLs against BL6-10OVA tumors. Overall, this work suggests that a novel CD4+ T cell-based vaccine that is capable of stimulating long-term functional CTL memory via CD40L signaling may represent a novel, efficient approach to antitumor vaccination.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the western world. Approximately 20-30% of invasive breast carcinomas are proto-oncogene human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2 positive and associated with increased metastatic potential and poor prognosis. The survival benefit of anti-HER2 driven therapies demonstrated in clinical trials indicates that HER2 is one of the most promising molecules for targeted therapy to date. Above results prompt us to assess whether CD4+ T-cell-based vaccine can stimulate efficient HER2-specific CD8+ CTL responses and antitumor immunity in transgenic mice with HER2-specific self-immune tolerance. We prepared HER2-specific HER2-TEXO using ConA-stimulated CD4+ T cells with uptake of exosomes released from HER2-expressing AdVHER2-transfected DCs. We found that HER2-TEXO vaccine is capable of inducing HER2-specific CTL responses and protective immunity against transgene HLA-A2/HER2-expressing B16 melanoma BL6-10HLA-A2/HER2 in 2/8 double transgenic HLA-A2/HER2 mice with HER2-specific self-immune tolerance. The remaining 6/8 mice had significantly prolonged survival. Therefore, the novel T cell-based HER2-TEXO vaccine may provide a new therapeutic alternative for women with HER2+ breast cancer.

In contrast to CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), mechanisms of CD8+CD25+ Treg-mediated immunosuppression are not well understood. In this study, we purified polyclonal CD8+CD25+ Tregs from C57BL/6 mouse splenocytes and expanded them in culture medium containing CD3/CD28 microbeads. By using these amplified CD8+CD25+ Tregs, we demonstrated that CD8+CD25+ Tregs inhibit naive CD4+ T-cell proliferation and induce naive T-cell anergy by up-regulating T-cell anergy-associated early growth response 2 (EGR2), and by decreasing T-cell proliferation and IL-2-secretion upon stimulation. They also impact the expression of perforin on effector CTLs and directly induce perforin-mediated CTL apoptosis. CD8+CD25+ Tregs, when pulsed with OVA323-339 peptide, exert an enhanced inhibition. Interestingly, CD8+CD25+ Tregs, when pulsed with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)35-55 peptide, become capable of inhibiting MOG35-55-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Two-photon microscopic observations suggest that OVA323-339-pulsed (armed) CD8+CD25+ Tregs reduce the interactions between DCs and cognate CD4+ T cells ex vivo by increasing velocities of T cells in mouse lymph nodes. Therefore, redirecting antigen-specificity to nonspecific CD8+CD25+ Tregs can be achieved for enhanced immunosuppression through their arming with the antigen-specific pMHC-II complexes. This approach may have great impact on improvement of endogenous polyclonal Treg-mediated immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases.

Taken together, our studies demonstrate that nonspecific polyclonal CD4+ T cells and CD8+CD25+ Tregs, when armed with HER2 and MOG antigen-specific pMHC-I and -II complexes, become capable of stimulating enhanced HER2-specific CTL responses and antitumor immunity in double transgenic HLA-A2/HER2 mice and inducing enhanced MOG-specific immunosuppression in MOG-induced EAE mice, respectively. Therefore, redirecting antigen specificity to nonspecific CD4+ T and CD8+CD25+ Tregs by pMHC complex arming may have great impact in development of novel T cell-based vaccines for treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.