Dataset Information

Mucosal-associated invariant T cell responses differ by sex in COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sexual dimorphisms in immune responses contribute to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes, but the mechanisms governing this disparity remain incompletely understood.

Methods

We carried out sex-balanced sampling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from hospitalized and non-hospitalized individuals with confirmed COVID-19, uninfected close contacts, and healthy control individuals for 36-color flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing.

Findings

Our results revealed a pronounced reduction of circulating mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in infected females. Integration of published COVID-19 airway tissue datasets suggests that this reduction represented a major wave of MAIT cell extravasation during early infection in females. Moreover, MAIT cells from females possessed an immunologically active gene signature, whereas cells from males were pro-apoptotic.

Conclusions

Our findings uncover a female-specific protective MAIT cell profile, potentially shedding light on reduced COVID-19 susceptibility in females.

Funding

This work was supported by NIH/NIAID (U01AI066569 and UM1AI104681), the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA; N66001-09-C-2082 and HR0011-17-2-0069), the Veterans Affairs Health System, and Virology Quality Assurance (VQA; 75N93019C00015). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the National Institutes of Health. COVID-19 samples were processed under Biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) with aerosol management enhancement or BSL-3 in the Duke Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, which received partial support for construction from NIH/NIAID (UC6AI058607).

SUBMITTER: Yu C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8043578 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Mucosal-associated invariant T cell responses differ by sex in COVID-19.

Yu Chen C Littleton Sejiro S Giroux Nicholas S NS Mathew Rose R Ding Shengli S Kalnitsky Joan J Yang Yuchen Y Petzold Elizabeth E Chung Hong A HA Rivera Grecia O GO Rotstein Tomer T Xi Rui R Ko Emily R ER Tsalik Ephraim L EL Sempowski Gregory D GD Denny Thomas N TN Burke Thomas W TW McClain Micah T MT Woods Christopher W CW Shen Xiling X Saban Daniel R DR

Med (New York, N.Y.) 20210413 6

<h4>Background</h4>Sexual dimorphisms in immune responses contribute to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes, but the mechanisms governing this disparity remain incompletely understood.<h4>Methods</h4>We carried out sex-balanced sampling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from hospitalized and non-hospitalized individuals with confirmed COVID-19, uninfected close contacts, and healthy control individuals for 36-color flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing.<h4>Findings</h4>Our r ...[more]

PMID: 33870241

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Project description:A recently identified unconventional T cell population known as mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are characterized by the expression of semi-invariant T cell receptor (TCR) with a canonical TRAV1-2/TRAJ33 (Vα7.2/Jα33). These evolutionary conserved, innate-like T cells recognize vitamin B metabolites, derived from some bacteria and fungi. Due to their presence not only in the T cell repertoire of mucosal surfaces but also in peripheral blood and liver, and their significant involvement in a wide range of diseases, in-depth characterization of human MAIT cells is a timely requirement. Studies that examined the transcriptome, immunoproteome, and whole-cell proteome characterized the role of cytotoxic molecules and cytokines in effector functions of MAIT cells and their relationship with some other immune cell subsets. As MAIT cells are classified under the CD3+ T cell compartment and the majority express surface receptor CD8, identifying their proteomic relationship with CD3+ and CD8+ T cells is pivotal. Thus, a high-resolution dataset was generated using the cell populations sorted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of three healthy volunteers to describe the whole cell proteomes of MAIT, CD3+, and CD8+ T cells. Trypsin-digested peptide samples obtained from the methanol co-precipitation method were analyzed using an Orbitrap FusionTM TribridTM mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) inline coupled to nanoACQUITY ultra-performance liquid chromatography system (Waters, USA) to acquire data-dependent shotgun proteomic data (DDA-MS) for label-free quantification. Analysis of raw DDA-MS data using MaxQuant software and maxLFQ identified and quantified 4,442 protein groups at a 1% false discovery rate. Further analysis identified 3,680 proteins which were detected with a single UniProt accession and a minimum of 2 unique or razor peptides. Thus this proteomic dataset can be used as a reference proteome for future studies on human MAIT cells.

Project description:Over the past decade, we have contributed to the chemistry of microbial natural products and synthetic ligands, related to riboflavin and uracils, that modulate immune cells called mucosal associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells). These highly abundant T lymphocytes were only discovered in 2003 and have become recognized for their importance in mammalian immunology. Unlike other T cells, MAIT cells are not activated by peptide or lipid antigens. In collaboration with immunology and structural biology research groups, we discovered that they are instead activated by unstable nitrogen-containing heterocycles synthesized by bacteria. The most potent naturally occurring activating compound (antigen) is 5-(2-oxopropylideneamino)-d-ribitylaminouracil (5-OP-RU). This compound is an imine (Schiff base) formed through condensation between an intermediate in the biosynthesis of riboflavin (vitamin B2) and a metabolic byproduct of mammalian and microbial glycolysis. Although it is very unstable in water due to intramolecular ring closure or hydrolysis, we were able to develop a non-enzymatic synthesis that yields a pure kinetically stable compound in a nonaqueous solvent. This compound has revolutionized the study of MAIT cell immunology due to its potent activation (EC50 = 2 pM) of MAIT cells and its development into immunological reagents for detecting and characterizing MAIT cells in tissues. MAIT cells are now linked to key physiological processes and disease, including antibacterial defense, tissue repair, regulation of graft-vs-host disease, gastritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, and cancer. 5-OP-RU activates MAIT cells and, like a vaccine, has been shown to protect mice from bacterial infections and cancers. Mechanistic studies on the binding of 5-OP-RU to its dual protein targets, the major histocompatibility complex class I related protein (MR1) and the MAIT cell receptor (MAIT TCR), have involved synthetic chemistry, 2D 1H NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, computer modeling and molecular dynamics simulations, biochemical, cellular, and immunological assays, and protein structural biology. These combined studies have revealed structural influences for 5-OP-RU in solution on protein binding and antigen presentation and potency; informed the development of potent (EC50 = 2 nM) and water stable analogues; led to fluorescent analogues for detecting and tracking binding proteins in and on cells; and enabled discovery of drugs and drug-like molecules that bind MR1 and modulate MAIT cell function. MAIT cells offer new opportunities for chemical synthesis to enhance the stability, potency, selectivity, and bioavailability of small molecule ligands for MR1 or MAIT TCR proteins, and to contribute to the understanding of T cell immunity and the development of prospective new immunomodulating medicines.

Dataset Information

Mucosal-associated invariant T cell responses differ by sex in COVID-19.

Background

Methods

Findings

Conclusions

Funding

Publications

Mucosal-associated invariant T cell responses differ by sex in COVID-19.

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