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Targeting human langerin promotes HIV-1 specific humoral immune responses

ABSTRACT: The main avenue for the development of an HIV-1 vaccine remains the induction of protective antibodies. A rationale approach is to target antigen to specific receptors on dendritic cells (DC) via fused monoclonal antibodies (mAb). In mouse and non-human primate models, targeting of skin Langerhans cells (LC) with anti-Langerin mAbs fused with HIV-1 Gag antigen drives antigen-specific humoral responses. The development of these immunization strategies in humans requires a better understanding of early immune events driven by human LC. We therefore produced anti-Langerin mAbs fused with the HIV-1 gp140z Envelope (αLC.Env). First, we show that primary skin human LC and in vitro differentiated LC induce differentiation and expansion of naïve CD4+ T cells into T follicular helper (Tfh) cells. Second, when human LC are pre-treated with αLC.Env, differentiated Tfh cells significantly promote the production of specific IgG by B cells. Strikingly, HIV-Env-specific Ig are secreted by HIV-specific memory B cells. Consistently, we found that receptors and cytokines involved in Tfh differentiation and B cell functions are upregulated by LC during their maturation and after targeting Langerin. Finally, we show that subcutaneous immunisation of mice by αLC.Env induces germinal center (GC) reaction in draining lymph nodes with higher numbers of Tfh cells, Env-specific B cells, as well as specific IgG serum levels compared to mice immunised with the non-targeting Env antigen. Altogether, we provide evidence that human LC properly targeted may be licensed to efficiently induce Tfh cell and B cell responses in GC.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE179513 | GEO | 2022/07/21

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Despite the critical role antigen-specific T cells play in containing viral infections, their aggregate frequencies in peripheral blood have not correlated with clinical protection during HIV infection. However, a subset of HIV-specific T cells, which are capable of simultaneously producing multiple effector cytokines, termed polyfunctional T cells, have correlated with delayed disease progression. HIV-specific polyfunctional T cells have been enumerated and characterized using the intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assay, which allows for simultaneous multiplexed analysis of cytokine expression at the single-cell level. In addition, using an unbiased computational analysis of ICS data generated through the RV144 HIV vaccine case-control study, we identified vaccine-induced HIV envelope (Env)-specific polyfunctional CD4 T cells as a novel correlate of reduced risk of HIV infection. However, very little is known about these cells and what differentiates them from other vaccine-elicited T cells. In addition, the use of sample fixation in the ICS assay prevents those cells from being further interrogated for transcriptional differences. Thus, we developed a novel live-cell multiplexed cytokine capture assay which allows for identification, sorting and transcriptional profiling of individual antigen-specific polyfunctional T cells by single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). We applied these methods to peripheral blood samples from participants who had received the RV144 vaccine regimen as part of the HVTN 097 clinical trial. Using this approach, we discovered transcriptional signatures that specifically identify the single-cell Env-specific CD4 T-cell functional profiles which had correlated with reduced risk of HIV infection in RV144. Interestingly, this signature is particularly characterized by upregulation of Th2 cytokines, supporting the hypothesis that the vaccine-induced Env-specific CD4 T cells likely contributed to the reduced risk of infection by providing T cell help to the Env-specific antibody responses. By interrogating the gene signatures that correlated with polyfunctionality, we have identified potential mechanisms of how vaccine-elicited polyfunctional T cells may contribute to reduced risk of HIV infection.

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Targeting human langerin promotes HIV-1 specific humoral immune responses

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