Respiratory viral infections are the third leading cause of death worldwide and are a WHO priority for vaccine development. For many years the scientific community has focused enormous efforts on the development of therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines that elicit CD8 T cell responses with the promise that such interventions will be sufficient to confer protective effects and potentially offset any deficiency in the antibody arm of the anti- viral response. However, to date the development of effective T cell vaccines against respiratory viruses remains elusive. For safety reasons, most vaccination strategies use replication-incompetent, or replication competent highly attenuated, viral vectors. However, there is considerable literature acknowledging that strongly replicating viruses are better at inducing long-term protective CD8 mediated immunity than attenuated viruses. Therefore, the effect of reduced virulence on immunogenicity becomes a central issue when attempting to derive a truly effective T cell vaccine that incorporates attenuated vectors. In this application, we will investigate the molecular basis that differentiates attenuated from non-attenuated vaccines by focusing on vaccine virus (VACV). We will use several clinically relevant natural and recombinant VACV variants that differ in their ability to modulate host immune responses and test the idea that the level of virus replication, influenced by virulence and evasion tactics, can lead to differential expression and selective use of essential activating and inhibitory receptors on CD8 T cells, to allow efficient immune responses and persistence of memory. Specifically, we will test the idea that generation of protective anti-viral CD8 T cell responses in the lung are highly regulated by the tumor-necrosis-factor receptor (TNFR) family member, herpes virus-entry mediator (HVEM). Recently it was found that HVEM could act as a molecular switch between pro inflammatory and inhibitory signaling by respectively binding with its endogenous ligand (LIGHT) from the TNF family and ITIM-containing inhibitory molecule B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) from the Ig like CD28/B7 family. The crosstalk between these two different families and especially between co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory receptors has raised many new questions with regards to the precise mechanisms of immune modulation through these interactions. Directly relevant to this proposal, the precise contribution of HVEM interacting with its binding partners in anti-viral responses is unknown. By performing phenotypic and functional studies of epitome-specific effectors and memory CD8 T cell populations in various situations of alternate inflammation, we propose firstly to formulate a picture of the LIGHT-HVEM-BTLA interactions that may be required to generate a virus-reactive T cell population, and secondly to formulate a rationale strategy for targeting these molecules to promote long-term protective T cell memory against respiratory viral infections. Collectively, these studies will provide new insight into the development of anti-viral CD8 T cell responses and facilitate the translational research development of novel adjuvant and vaccine strategies.

Public Health Relevance

Many viruses utilize the respiratory tract as an entry point into the host. Respiratory viral infections are the major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Understanding how protective anti-viral CD8 T cell immunity is regulated is essential for designing safer and more effective T cell vaccines to combat respiratory pathogens and in the management of adverse immune reactions associated with immune pathology.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI087734-04
Application #
8602811
Study Section
Vaccines Against Microbial Diseases (VMD)
Program Officer
Kelly, Halonna R
Project Start
2011-01-01
Project End
2015-12-31
Budget Start
2014-01-01
Budget End
2014-12-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$269,100
Indirect Cost
$89,100
Name
University of Florida
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
969663814
City
Gainesville
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
32611
Desai, Pritesh; Tahiliani, Vikas; Stanfield, Jessica et al. (2018) Inflammatory monocytes contribute to the persistence of CXCR3hi CX3CR1lo circulating and lung-resident memory CD8+ T cells following respiratory virus infection. Immunol Cell Biol 96:370-378
Desai, Pritesh; Tahiliani, Vikas; Hutchinson, Tarun E et al. (2018) The TNF Superfamily Molecule LIGHT Promotes the Generation of Circulating and Lung-Resident Memory CD8 T Cells following an Acute Respiratory Virus Infection. J Immunol 200:2894-2904
Desai, Pritesh; Tahiliani, Vikas; Abboud, Georges et al. (2018) Batf3-Dependent Dendritic Cells Promote Optimal CD8 T Cell Responses against Respiratory Poxvirus Infection. J Virol 92:
Desai, Pritesh; Abboud, Georges; Stanfield, Jessica et al. (2017) HVEM Imprints Memory Potential on Effector CD8 T Cells Required for Protective Mucosal Immunity. J Immunol 199:2968-2975
Tahiliani, Vikas; Hutchinson, Tarun E; Abboud, Georges et al. (2017) OX40 Cooperates with ICOS To Amplify Follicular Th Cell Development and Germinal Center Reactions during Infection. J Immunol 198:218-228
Abboud, Georges; Desai, Pritesh; Dastmalchi, Farhad et al. (2016) Tissue-specific programming of memory CD8 T cell subsets impacts protection against lethal respiratory virus infection. J Exp Med 213:2897-2911
Artiaga, Bianca L; Yang, Guan; Hutchinson, Tarun E et al. (2016) Rapid control of pandemic H1N1 influenza by targeting NKT-cells. Sci Rep 6:37999
Abboud, Georges; Tahiliani, Vikas; Desai, Pritesh et al. (2016) Natural Killer Cells and Innate Interferon Gamma Participate in the Host Defense against Respiratory Vaccinia Virus Infection. J Virol 90:129-41
Choi, Seung-Chul; Hutchinson, Tarun E; Titov, Anton A et al. (2016) The Lupus Susceptibility Gene Pbx1 Regulates the Balance between Follicular Helper T Cell and Regulatory T Cell Differentiation. J Immunol 197:458-69
Goulding, John; Abboud, Georges; Tahiliani, Vikas et al. (2014) CD8 T cells use IFN-? to protect against the lethal effects of a respiratory poxvirus infection. J Immunol 192:5415-25

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