Anti-CD4 monoclonal antibody, clone DWT5

The immunodeficiency observed in HIV-1-infected patients is mainly due to uninfected bystander CD4(+)T lymphocyte cell death. The viral envelope glycoproteins (Env), expressed at the surface of infected cells, play a key role in this process. Env triggers macroautophagy/autophagy, a process necessary for subsequent apoptosis, and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in bystander CD4(+)T cells. Here, we demonstrate that Env-induced oxidative stress is responsible for their death by apoptosis. Moreover, we report that peroxisomes, organelles involved in the control of oxidative stress, are targeted by Env-mediated autophagy. Indeed, we observe a selective autophagy-dependent decrease in the expression of peroxisomal proteins, CAT and PEX14, upon Env exposure; the downregulation of either BECN1 or SQSTM1/p62 restores their expression levels. Fluorescence studies allowed us to conclude that Env-mediated autophagy degrades these entire organelles and specifically the mature ones. Together, our results on Env-induced pexophagy provide new clues on HIV-1-induced immunodeficiency.

Antigen (Ag)-specific tolerance induction by intravenous (i. v.) injection of high-dose auto-Ags has been explored for therapy of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). It is thought that the advantage of such Ag-specific therapy over non-specific immunomodulatory treatments would be selective suppression of a pathogenic immune response without impairing systemic immunity, thus avoiding adverse effects of immunosuppression. Auto-Ag i.v. tolerance induction has been extensively studied in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, and limited clinical trials demonstrated that it is safe and beneficial to a subset of MS patients. Nonetheless, the mechanisms of i.v. tolerance induction are incompletely understood, hampering the development of better approaches and their clinical application. Here, we describe a pathway whereby auto-Ag i.v. injected into mice with ongoing clinical EAE induces interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion by auto-Ag-specific CD4(+) T cells, triggering interleukin (IL)-27 production by conventional dendritic cells type 1 (cDC1). IL-27 then, via signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 activation, induces programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression by monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) in the central nervous system of mice with EAE. PD-L1 interaction with programmed cell death protein 1 on pathogenic CD4(+) T cells leads to their apoptosis/anergy, resulting in disease amelioration. These findings identify a key role of the IFN-gamma/IL-27/PD-L1 axis, involving T cells/cDC1/moDCs in the induction of i.v. tolerance.