Immunomodulatory effects of heat-killed Mycobacterium obuense on human blood dendritic cells
INNATE IMMUNITY
Authors: Bazzi, Samer; Modjtahedi, Helmout; Mudan, Satvinder; Achkar, Marcel; Akle, Charles; Bahr, Georges M.
Abstract
Heat-killed (HK) Mycobacterium obuense is a novel immunomodulator, currently undergoing clinical evaluation as an immunotherapeutic agent in the treatment of cancer. Here, we examined the effect of invitro exposure to HK M. obuense on the expression of different categories of surface receptors on human blood myeloid (m) and plasmacytoid (p) DCs. Moreover, we have characterized the cytokine and chemokine secretion patterns of purified total blood DCs stimulated with HK M. obuense. HK M. obuense significantly up-regulated the expression of CD11c, CD80, CD83, CD86, CD274 and MHC class II in whole-blood mDCs and CD80, CD123 and MHC class II in whole-blood pDCs. Down-regulation of CD195 expression in both DC subpopulations was also noted. Further analysis showed that HK M. obuense up-regulated the expression of CD80, CD83 and MHC class II on purified blood DC subpopulations. TLR2 and TLR1 were also identified to be engaged in mediating the HK M. obuense-induced up-regulation of surface receptor expression on whole blood mDCs. In addition, our data demonstrated that HK M. obuense augmented the secretion of CCL4, CCL5, CCL22, CXCL8, IL-6, IL-12p40 and TNF- by purified total blood DCs. Taken together, our data suggest that HK M. obuense exerts potent differential immunomodulatory effects on human DC subpopulations.
Acute myeloid leukaemia-derived Langerhans-like cells enhance Th1 polarization upon TLR2 engagement
PHARMACOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Authors: Bock, Stephanie; Murgueitio, Manuela S.; Wolber, Gerhard; Weindl, Gunther
Abstract
Langerhans cells (LCs) represent a highly specialized subset of epidermal dendritic cells (DCs), yet not fully understood in their function of balancing skin immunity. Here, we investigated in vitro generated Langerhans-like cells obtained from the human acute myeloid leukaemia cell line MUTZ-3 (MUTZ-LCs) to study TLR- and cytokine-dependent activation of epidermal DCs. MUTZ-LCs revealed high TLR2 expression and responded robustly to TLR2 engagement, confirmed by increased CD83, CD86, PD-L1 and IDO expression, upregulated IL-6, IL-12p40 and IL-23p19 mRNA levels IL-8 release. TLR2 activation reduced CCR6 and elevated CCR7 mRNA expression and induced migration of MUTZ-LCs towards CCL21. Similar results were obtained by stimulation with pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta whereas ligands of TLR3 and TLR4 failed to induce a fully mature phenotype. Despite limited cytokine gene expression and production for TLR2-activated MUTZ-LCs, co-culture with naive CD4(+) T cells led to significantly increased IFN-gamma and IL-22 levels indicating Th1 differentiation independent of IL-12. TLR2-mediated effects were blocked by the putative TLR2/1 antagonist CU-CPT22, however, no selectivity for either TLR2/1 or TLR2/6 was observed. Computer-aided docking studies confirmed non-selective binding of the TLR2 antagonist. Taken together, our results indicate a critical role for TLR2 signalling in MUTZ-LCs considering the leukemic origin of the generated Langerhans-like cells. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.