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The immune profile of circulating autoreactive CD4 T cells is imprinted through tissue activation during autoimmune liver diseases (Exp 3)

ABSTRACT: Autoimmune liver diseases (AILD) are immune-mediated disorders in which CD4 T cells play a central role. However, the link between circulating self-antigen-specific CD4 T cells and the targeted tissue has not been extensively studied in AILD. We hypothesized that circulating autoreactive CD4 T cells were clonally and functionally related to dominant intra-hepatic pathogenic CD4 T cell clones. Single cell transcriptomic analysis of circulating self-antigen-specific CD4 T cells revealed a specific B-helper and immuno-exhausted transcriptional profile, which was conserved for different autoantigens, but distinct from several other types of foreign antigen specificities. In the blood, the dominant hepatic CD4 T cell clones had a similar transcriptomic signature and were enriched in the PD-1+ TIGIT+ HLA-DR+ CD4 T cell subset. In a mouse model, antigen-specific CD4 T cells acquired the immuno-exhausted transcriptional profile when they accumulated in the liver after local antigen reactivity. Locally, immune checkpoint molecules controlled the response of antigen-specific CD4 T cells responsible for liver damage. Our study reveals the origin and biology of liver-derived autoreactive CD4 T cells in the blood of AILD patients that are imprinted by the liver environment, and suggest a dysregulation of the immune checkpoint molecules pathways. Our study enables tracking and isolating circulating autoreactive CD4 T cells for future diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE270734 | GEO | 2024/12/19

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Background & Aims: In most autoimmune disorders, crosstalk of B cells and CD4 T cells results in the accumulation of autoantibodies targeting specific self-antigen like the Soluble Liver Antigen (SLA or SepSecs) in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). But the associated autoreactive CD4 T cells have not been characterized yet. Here we isolated and deeply characterized SLA-specific CD4 T cells in AIH patients. Methods: We used brief ex vivo re-stimulation with overlapping SLA-derived peptides to isolate and phenotype circulating SLA-specific CD4 T cells, and integrative single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) to characterize their transcriptome and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. Identified auto-reactive TCRs were reconstituted cloned and expressed in T cell hybridoma to identify dominant SLA-derived CD4 T cell epitopes. SLA-specific CD4 T cells were tracked in peripheral blood through TCR sequencing, to identify their phenotypic niche. We further characterized disease-associated peripheral blood T cells by high content flow cytometry in an additional cohort of n=42 AIH patients and n=17 non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) controls. Results: Frequency of autoreactive SLA-specific CD4 T cells was associated with anti-SLA autoantibodies and had a memory CD45RA-CD27+PD-1+CXCR5-CCR6- phenotype. ScRNA-seq revealed their pro-inflammatory/B-Helper profile (IL21, IFNG, TIGIT, CTLA4, NR3C1, CD109, KLRB1 and CLEC2D). SLA81-100 and SLA177-204 contain dominant T cell epitopes. Autoreactive TCR clonotypes were restricted to the memory PD-1+CXCR5- CD4 T cells which was significantly increased in the blood of AIH patients and supported B cell differentiation through IL-21. Finally, we identified a specific phenotype (CD45RA-PD-1+CD38+CXCR5-CD127-CD27+) of T cells linked to disease activity and IgG response during AIH. Conclusions: This work provides for the first time a deep characterization of rare circulating autoreactive CD4 T cells and the identification of their peripheral reservoir in AIH. We also propose a generic phenotype of pathogenic T cells related to AIH disease activity which will be essential to track, delineate and potentially target those pathogenic cells.

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The immune profile of circulating autoreactive CD4 T cells is imprinted through tissue activation during autoimmune liver diseases (Exp 3)

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