Inflammatory Colonic Innate Lymphoid Cells Are Increased During Untreated HIV-1 Infection and Associated With Markers of Gut Dysbiosis and Mucosal Immune Activation
JAIDS-JOURNAL OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROMES
Authors: Dillon, Stephanie M.; Castleman, Moriah J.; Frank, Daniel N.; Austin, Gregory L.; Gianella, Sara; Cogswell, Andrew C.; Landay, Alan L.; Barker, Edward; Wilson, Cara C.
Abstract
Background: HIV-1 infection is associated with intestinal inflammation, changes in the enteric microbiota (dysbiosis), and intestinal epithelial cell damage. NKp44(+) innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) play an important role in epithelial barrier maintenance through the production of interleukin (IL)-22 but also display functional plasticity and can produce inflammatory cytokines [eg, interferon gamma (IFN gamma)] in response to cytokine milieu and stimulatory signals. The objective of this pilot study was to enumerate frequencies of IL-22 and IFN gamma-expressing colonic NKp44(+) ILCs during untreated, chronic HIV-1 infection. Setting: A cross-sectional study was performed to compare numbers of cytokine-expressing ILCs in colonic biopsies of untreated, chronic HIV-1 infected (n = 22), and uninfected (n = 10) study participants. Associations between cytokine(+) ILC and previously established measures of virological, immunological, and microbiome indices were analyzed. Methods: Multicolor flow cytometry was used to measure the absolute number of colonic CD3(-)NKp44(+/-)CD56(+/-) ILCs expressing IL-22 or IFNg after in vitro mitogenic stimulation. Results: Numbers of colonic NKp44(+) ILCs that expressed IFNg were significantly higher in HIV-1 infected versus uninfected persons and positively correlated with relative abundances of dysbiotic bacterial species in the Xanthomonadaceae and Prevotellaceae bacterial families and with colonic myeloid dendritic cell and T-cell activation. Conclusion: Higher numbers of inflammatory colonic ILCs during untreated chronic HIV-1 infection that associated with dysbiosis and colonic myeloid dendritic cell and T-cell activation suggest that inflammatory ILCs may contribute to gut mucosal inflammation and epithelial barrier breakdown, important features of HIV-1 mucosal pathogenesis.
Flagellin adjuvanted F1/V subunit plague vaccine induces T cell and functional antibody responses with unique gene signatures
NPJ VACCINES
Authors: Hamzabegovic, Fahreta; Goll, Johannes B.; Hooper, William F.; Frey, Sharon; Gelber, Casey E.; Abate, Getahun
Abstract
Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, could be weaponized. Unfortunately, development of new vaccines is limited by lack of correlates of protection. We used pre- and post-vaccination sera and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a flagellin adjuvanted F1/V vaccine trial to evaluate for protective markers. Here, we report for the first time in humans that inverse caspase-3 levels, which are measures of protective antibody, significantly increased by 29% and 75% on days 14 and 28 post-second vaccination, respectively. In addition, there were significant increases in T-cell responses on day 28 post-second vaccination. The strongest positive and negative correlations between protective antibody levels and gene expression signatures were identified for IFNG and ENSG00000225107 genes, respectively. Flagellin/F1/V subunit vaccine induced macrophage-protective antibody and significant CD4(+) T-cell responses. Several genes associated with these responses were identified that could serve as potential correlates of protection.