CD8 T cells induce perforin-dependent pathology in Leishmania braziliensis infection
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: The mechanisms that mediate immunopathologic responses in infectious diseases are often less well understood than how the pathogens are controlled. Here, we have investigated what causes increased pathology following infection with the protozoan parasite, Leishmania braziliensis. We focused on CD8 T cells since their presence in leishmanial lesions has been correlated with increased disease. By adoptively transferring CD8 T cells to L. braziliensis infected RAG mice, we found that unregulated CD8 T cells promote severe pathology at the infection site, as well as the development of metastatic lesions in other skin sites. In mice with severe pathology, we visualized CD8 T cells degranulating and lysing L. braziliensis infected cells, and in parallel studies with L. braziliensis patients we confirmed that CD8 T cells within lesions exhibit a cytolytic phenotype. We found that perforin deficient CD8 T cells failed to induce disease, indicating that the increased disease induced by CD8 T cells was due perforin-dependent cytotoxicity. In contrast, although we found that CD8 T cells made both IFN-γ and IL-17, neither of these cytokines is required for the development of pathology. Thus, we show for the first time that immunopathology in leishmaniasis can be mediated by cytolytic CD8 T cells.
Project description:The mechanisms that mediate immunopathologic responses in infectious diseases are often less well understood than how the pathogens are controlled. Here, we have investigated what causes increased pathology following infection with the protozoan parasite, Leishmania braziliensis. We focused on CD8 T cells since their presence in leishmanial lesions has been correlated with increased disease. By adoptively transferring CD8 T cells to L. braziliensis infected RAG mice, we found that unregulated CD8 T cells promote severe pathology at the infection site, as well as the development of metastatic lesions in other skin sites. In mice with severe pathology, we visualized CD8 T cells degranulating and lysing L. braziliensis infected cells, and in parallel studies with L. braziliensis patients we confirmed that CD8 T cells within lesions exhibit a cytolytic phenotype. We found that perforin deficient CD8 T cells failed to induce disease, indicating that the increased disease induced by CD8 T cells was due perforin-dependent cytotoxicity. In contrast, although we found that CD8 T cells made both IFN-γ and IL-17, neither of these cytokines is required for the development of pathology. Thus, we show for the first time that immunopathology in leishmaniasis can be mediated by cytolytic CD8 T cells. Twelve skin biopsy samples were analyzed, including 2 normal skin biopsies obtained from patients in N. America, and 10 skin biosies obtained from Leishmania brazilensis infected patients presenting at the Corte de Pedra Health Post in Corte de Pedra, Bahia, Brazil
Project description:The host immune response plays a critical role not only in protection from human leishmaniasis, but also in promoting disease severity. Although candidate gene approaches in mouse models of leishmaniasis have been extremely informative, a global understanding of the immune pathways active in lesions from human patients is lacking. To address this issue, genome-wide transcriptional profiling of Leishmania braziliensis-infected cutaneous lesions and normal skin controls was carried out. A signature of the L. braziliensis skin lesion was defined that includes over 2,000 differentially regulated genes. Pathway-level analysis of this transcriptional response revealed key biological pathways, as well as specific genes, associated with cutaneous pathology, generating a testable 'metapathway' model of immune-driven lesion pathology, and providing new insights for treatment of human leishmaniasis.
Project description:The host immune response plays a critical role not only in protection from human leishmaniasis, but also in promoting disease severity. Although candidate gene approaches in mouse models of leishmaniasis have been extremely informative, a global understanding of the immune pathways active in lesions from human patients is lacking. To address this issue, genome-wide transcriptional profiling of Leishmania braziliensis-infected cutaneous lesions and normal skin controls was carried out. A signature of the L. braziliensis skin lesion was defined that includes over 2,000 differentially regulated genes. Pathway-level analysis of this transcriptional response revealed key biological pathways, as well as specific genes, associated with cutaneous pathology, generating a testable 'metapathway' model of immune-driven lesion pathology, and providing new insights for treatment of human leishmaniasis. Thirty-five skin biopsies were analyzed, including 10 normal skin biopsies (2 from North America and 8 from non-endemic area in Brazil), and 25 skin lesion biopsies (8 early cutaneous lesions, 17 late cutaneous lesions) obtained from Leishmania brazilensis-infected patients presenting at the Corte de Pedra Health Post in Corte de Pedra, Bahia, Brazil.
Project description:This study was carried out to evaluate the changes that occur in the skin after the development of cutaneous leishmaniasis, aiming at a comprehensive understanding of immune pathways and biological functions activated in lesions caused by L. braziliensis. This analysis was conducted on 8 skin ulcers from patients infected with L. braziliensis. The patients selected for the gene expression analysis had recent L. braziliensis infection that had not yet been treated. 8 controls samples are skin biopsies from healthy donors (non-infected).
Project description:This study was carried out to evaluate the changes that occur in the skin after the development of cutaneous leishmaniasis, aiming at a comprehensive understanding of immune pathways and biological functions activated in lesions caused by L. braziliensis.
Project description:Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is the main etiological agent of cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis in Latin America. Reports have described non-ulcerated atypical tegumentary leishmaniasis cases caused by L. braziliensis in several regions of the world, including in patients from the Xacriabá Indigenous reserve, in São João das Missões/Minas Gerais - Brazil. Parasites isolated from these atypical clinical lesions have previously been found to be resistant to antimony-based therapeutics. In the present study, proteins displaying differential abundance in 2 strains of L. braziliensis isolated from patients with atypical lesions compared with 4 strains isolated from patients with typical lesions were identified using a quantitative proteomics approach based on tandem mass tag labeling (TMT) and mass spectrometry. A total of 532 (p value <0.05) differentially abundant proteins were identified (298 up-regulated and 234 down-regulated) in strains from atypical lesions compared to strains from typical lesions. We observed a variety of proteins with differential abundance among the studied strains. Prominent positively regulated in atypical strains included proteins which may confer a greater survival inside the macrophage, proteins related to resistance to antimony and higher peroxidase activity. Also were identified proteins suggest as new drug and vaccines target. Our data contribute to characterization of these intriguing L. braziliensis strains, and sheds new light on ACL cases has been associated with therapeutic failures.
Project description:Method: To better understand the mechanism of perforin in regulating liver CD8 T cell-mediated inflammation during NASH, we sorted CD8 T cells from the livers of WT or Prf1null mice fed the MCD diet for 4 weeks and performed mRNA sequencing of these hepatic CD8 T cells. Total RNA was isolated from FACS-separated hepatic CD8 T cells. Transcriptome sequencing libraries were generated using NEBNext® Ultra™ RNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina® (NEB, USA) following manufacturer’s recommendations and sequenced on an Illumina Hiseq platform (Illumina, San Diego, CA). Sequences were aligned to the reference genome with TopHat and processed with Cufflinks, which quantifies each transcript in each sample using reference annotations produced bythe University of California Santa Cruz UCSC. Differentially expressed genes with a fold change of >=2.0 and padj < 0.05 between CD8 T cells from perforin knockout mice or WT mice fed the MCD were submitted to GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, which uses unbiased methods to assess pathway enrichment. Result: Gene Ontology categories (biological processes) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the DEGs in hepatic CD8 T cells from MCD-fed Prf1null mice are involved in cell adhesion, apoptotic process, cell migration, T cell proliferation, regulation of cytokine secretion, complement and coagulation cascades, etc. Compared with CD8 T cells from the steatotic livers of WT mice, hepatic CD8 T cells from MCD-fed perforin knockout mice showed significantly upregulated levels of anti-apoptotic genes (Ei24, Tnfrsf22, Tnfrsf23, Maf and Siah2), chemokines (Cxcl3), chemokine receptor (Ccr5), genes linked to cell activation (Sfpq and P2rx7), proinflammatory cytokine secretion (C1qtnf1, C1qtnf6, CD36, and Tek) and proinflammatory signaling pathways (Tnfsf12, Tnfsf14, Ptgs2, Mapk3, Mapk7, Mapk12, Il12rb2 and Grb2), and downregulated levels of apoptosis-promoting genes (Dffb and Tnfrsf21).
Project description:Cytolytic CD8+ T cells mediate immunopathology in cutaneous leishmaniasis without controlling parasites. Here, we identify factors involved in CD8+ T cell migration to the lesion that could be targeted to ameliorate disease severity. CCR5 was the most highly expressed chemokine receptor in patient lesions, and the high expression of CCL3 and CCL4, CCR5 ligands, was associated with delayed healing of lesions. To test the requirement for CCR5, Leishmania-infected Rag1-/- mice were reconstituted with CCR5-/- CD8+ T cells. We found that these mice developed smaller lesions accompanied by a reduction in CD8+ T cell numbers compared to controls. We confirmed these findings by showing that the inhibition of CCR5 with maraviroc, a selective inhibitor of CCR5, reduced lesion development without affecting the parasite burden. Together, these results reveal that CD8+ T cells migrate to leishmanial lesions in a CCR5-dependent manner and that blocking CCR5 prevents CD8+ T cell-mediated pathology.