Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.

Containment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection requires T cell recognition of infected macrophages. Mtb has evolved to tolerate, evade, and subvert host immunity. Despite a vigorous and sustained CD8+ T cell response during Mtb infection, CD8+ T cells make limited contribution to protecti...

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Main Authors: Jason D Yang, Daniel Mott, Rujapak Sutiwisesak, Yu-Jung Lu, Fiona Raso, Britni Stowell, Greg Hunter Babunovic, Jinhee Lee, Steve M Carpenter, Sing Sing Way, Sarah M Fortune, Samuel M Behar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-02-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1007060&type=printable
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author Jason D Yang
Daniel Mott
Rujapak Sutiwisesak
Yu-Jung Lu
Fiona Raso
Britni Stowell
Greg Hunter Babunovic
Jinhee Lee
Steve M Carpenter
Sing Sing Way
Sarah M Fortune
Samuel M Behar
author_facet Jason D Yang
Daniel Mott
Rujapak Sutiwisesak
Yu-Jung Lu
Fiona Raso
Britni Stowell
Greg Hunter Babunovic
Jinhee Lee
Steve M Carpenter
Sing Sing Way
Sarah M Fortune
Samuel M Behar
author_sort Jason D Yang
collection DOAJ
description Containment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection requires T cell recognition of infected macrophages. Mtb has evolved to tolerate, evade, and subvert host immunity. Despite a vigorous and sustained CD8+ T cell response during Mtb infection, CD8+ T cells make limited contribution to protection. Here, we ask whether the ability of Mtb-specific T cells to restrict Mtb growth is related to their capacity to recognize Mtb-infected macrophages. We derived CD8+ T cell lines that recognized the Mtb immunodominant epitope TB10.44-11 and compared them to CD4+ T cell lines that recognized Ag85b240-254 or ESAT63-17. While the CD4+ T cells recognized Mtb-infected macrophages and inhibited Mtb growth in vitro, the TB10.4-specific CD8+ T cells neither recognized Mtb-infected macrophages nor restricted Mtb growth. TB10.4-specific CD8+ T cells recognized macrophages infected with Listeria monocytogenes expressing TB10.4. However, over-expression of TB10.4 in Mtb did not confer recognition by TB10.4-specific CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T cells recognized macrophages pulsed with irradiated Mtb, indicating that macrophages can efficiently cross-present the TB10.4 protein and raising the possibility that viable bacilli might suppress cross-presentation. Importantly, polyclonal CD8+ T cells specific for Mtb antigens other than TB10.4 recognized Mtb-infected macrophages in a MHC-restricted manner. As TB10.4 elicits a dominant CD8+ T cell response that poorly recognizes Mtb-infected macrophages, we propose that TB10.4 acts as a decoy antigen. Moreover, it appears that this response overshadows subdominant CD8+ T cell response that can recognize Mtb-infected macrophages. The ability of Mtb to subvert the CD8+ T cell response may explain why CD8+ T cells make a disproportionately small contribution to host defense compared to CD4+ T cells. The selection of Mtb antigens for vaccines has focused on antigens that generate immunodominant responses. We propose that establishing whether vaccine-elicited, Mtb-specific T cells recognize Mtb-infected macrophages could be a useful criterion for preclinical vaccine development.
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language English
publishDate 2018-02-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-917affd8656c435c82574a424b26cd4e2025-08-20T02:45:28ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742018-02-01145e100706010.1371/journal.ppat.1007060Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.Jason D YangDaniel MottRujapak SutiwisesakYu-Jung LuFiona RasoBritni StowellGreg Hunter BabunovicJinhee LeeSteve M CarpenterSing Sing WaySarah M FortuneSamuel M BeharContainment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection requires T cell recognition of infected macrophages. Mtb has evolved to tolerate, evade, and subvert host immunity. Despite a vigorous and sustained CD8+ T cell response during Mtb infection, CD8+ T cells make limited contribution to protection. Here, we ask whether the ability of Mtb-specific T cells to restrict Mtb growth is related to their capacity to recognize Mtb-infected macrophages. We derived CD8+ T cell lines that recognized the Mtb immunodominant epitope TB10.44-11 and compared them to CD4+ T cell lines that recognized Ag85b240-254 or ESAT63-17. While the CD4+ T cells recognized Mtb-infected macrophages and inhibited Mtb growth in vitro, the TB10.4-specific CD8+ T cells neither recognized Mtb-infected macrophages nor restricted Mtb growth. TB10.4-specific CD8+ T cells recognized macrophages infected with Listeria monocytogenes expressing TB10.4. However, over-expression of TB10.4 in Mtb did not confer recognition by TB10.4-specific CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T cells recognized macrophages pulsed with irradiated Mtb, indicating that macrophages can efficiently cross-present the TB10.4 protein and raising the possibility that viable bacilli might suppress cross-presentation. Importantly, polyclonal CD8+ T cells specific for Mtb antigens other than TB10.4 recognized Mtb-infected macrophages in a MHC-restricted manner. As TB10.4 elicits a dominant CD8+ T cell response that poorly recognizes Mtb-infected macrophages, we propose that TB10.4 acts as a decoy antigen. Moreover, it appears that this response overshadows subdominant CD8+ T cell response that can recognize Mtb-infected macrophages. The ability of Mtb to subvert the CD8+ T cell response may explain why CD8+ T cells make a disproportionately small contribution to host defense compared to CD4+ T cells. The selection of Mtb antigens for vaccines has focused on antigens that generate immunodominant responses. We propose that establishing whether vaccine-elicited, Mtb-specific T cells recognize Mtb-infected macrophages could be a useful criterion for preclinical vaccine development.https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1007060&type=printable
spellingShingle Jason D Yang
Daniel Mott
Rujapak Sutiwisesak
Yu-Jung Lu
Fiona Raso
Britni Stowell
Greg Hunter Babunovic
Jinhee Lee
Steve M Carpenter
Sing Sing Way
Sarah M Fortune
Samuel M Behar
Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.
PLoS Pathogens
title Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.
title_full Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.
title_fullStr Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.
title_full_unstemmed Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.
title_short Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.
title_sort mycobacterium tuberculosis specific cd4 and cd8 t cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages
url https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1007060&type=printable
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