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T lymphocytes from chagasic patients are activated but lack proliferative capacity and down-regulate CD28 and CD3?.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chronic persistent infections have been associated with T lymphocytes functional impairment. The aim of this study was to compare the activation status, the proliferative potential and the expression of CD28 and CD3? chain on T lymphocytes between chronic chagasic patients and uninfected controls.

Methodology/principal findings

Forty-two chronic chagasic patients, 28 healthy individuals and 32 non-chagasic cardiomyopathy donors were included. Peripheral blood was marked for CD3, CD4, CD8, HLA-DR, CD28, CD38 and intracellular CD3?. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stained with carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidylester and incubated with T. cruzi lysate or phytohemagglutinin for five days. Cells from 3 healthy controls were incubated with T. cruzi trypomastigotes separated with transwells; and the expression of CD3? chain and proliferation index was determined. Heart-infiltrating cells from two chronic chagasic patients were tested for the aforementioned cellular markers. Chagasic patients displayed higher frequencies of CD4+/HLA-DR+/CD38+ (8.1% ± 6.1) and CD8+/HLA-DR+/CD38+ (19.8 ± 8.9) T cells in comparison with healthy (1.6 ± 1.0; 10.6 ± 8.0) and non-chagasic cardiomyopathy donors (2.9 ± 2.9; 5.8 ± 6.8). Furthermore, the percentage of CD4+ activated T cells was higher in chagasic patients with cardiac involvement. CD8+ T cells proliferation index in chagasic donors (1.7 ± 0.3) was lower when compared with healthy (2.3 ± 0.3) and non-chagasic cardiomyopathy individuals (3.1 ± 1.1). The frequencies of CD4+/CD28+ and CD8+/CD28+ T cells, as well as the CD3?(bright)/CD3?(dim)% ratios in CD4+ and CD8+ were lower in chagasic patients when compared with both control groups. The CD3?(bright)/CD3?(dim)% ratio and proliferative indexes for CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes decreased gradually in those cells cultivated with parasites and displayed lower values than those incubated with medium alone. Finally, heart-infiltrating T cells from two T. cruzi infected patients also expressed activation markers and down-regulate CD28 and CD3?.

Conclusions

CD8+ T lymphocytes from chagasic donors displayed reduced proliferative capacity, which might be associated with CD3? down-regulation and diminished CD28 expression on CD4 T cells.

SUBMITTER: Giraldo NA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3561132 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Trypanosoma cruzi infection in humans leads to progression to chronic chagasic myocarditis (CCM) in 30% of infected individuals, paralleling T cell inflammatory infiltrates in the heart tissue. T-cell trafficking into the hearts of CCM patients may be modulated by in situ expression of chemotactic or haptotactic molecules, as the chemokine CXCL12, the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and extracellular matrix proteins (ECM), such as fibronectin. Herein we evaluated the expression of fibronectin, CXCL12, and TNF-α in the myocardial tissue of T. cruzi seropositive (asymptomatic or with CCM), as well as seronegative individuals as healthy controls. Hearts from CCM patients exhibited enhanced expression of these three molecules. CXCL12 and TNF-α serum levels were also increased in CCM individuals. We then evaluated T lymphocytes from chronic chagasic patients by cytofluorometry, in terms of membrane expression levels of molecules involved in cell activation and cell migration, respectively, HLA-DR and the VLA-4 (very late antigen-4, being one integrin-type fibronectin receptor). Indeed, the expression of HLA-DR and VLA-4 was enhanced on T lymphocytes from chagasic patients, especially in the CCM group. To further approach the dynamics of T cell migratory events, we performed fibronectin-, TNF-α-, and CXCL12-driven migration. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and T cells from CCM patients presented an ex vivo enhanced migratory capacity driven by fibronectin alone when this ECM protein was placed in the membrane of transwell migration chambers. When TNF-α was previously placed upon fibronectin, we observed a further and significant increase in the migratory response of both PBMCs and T lymphocytes. Overall, these data suggest the existence in patients with chronic Chagas disease of a cardiac inflammatory infiltrate vector that promotes the recruitment and accumulation of activated T cells, driven in part by enhanced tissue expression of fibronectin and TNF-α, as well as the respective corresponding VLA-4 and TNF receptors.