Selected Grantee Publications
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- 26 results found
- nhlbi
- Infectious Diseases
CAR/CXCR5–T Cell Immunotherapy Is Safe and Potentially Efficacious in Promoting Sustained Remission of SIV Infection
Pampusch et al., PLOS Pathogens. 2022.
https://www.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009831
HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication are concentrated within the B cell follicles of secondary lymphoid tissues. In this study, the researchers developed immunotherapeutic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that home to follicles and clear SIV-infected cells in a rhesus macaque model. The CAR T cells localized to the follicle, replicated, and interacted directly with infected cells. Most of the treated animals maintained lower viral loads in the blood and follicles, compared to control animals. These findings demonstrate the safety and potential efficacy of this immunotherapy approach for long-term remission of HIV without requiring the lifelong use of antiretroviral therapy. Supported by ORIP (P51OD011106), NIAID, and NHLBI.
Factor XII Plays a Pathogenic Role in Organ Failure and Death in Baboons Challenged with Staphylococcus aureus
Silasi et al., Blood. 2021.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33598692/
Activation of coagulation factor (F) XI promotes multiorgan failure in rodent models of sepsis and in a baboon model for lethal systemic inflammation induced by infusion of heat-inactivated Staphylococcus aureus. The authors used the anticoagulant FXII-neutralizing antibody 5C12 to verify the mechanistic role of FXII. Inhibition of FXII prevented fever, terminal hypotension, respiratory distress, and multiorgan failure. All animals receiving 5C12 had milder and transient clinical symptoms; untreated control animals suffered irreversible multiorgan failure. This study confirms their previous finding that at least two enzymes of FXIa and FXIIa play critical roles in the development of an acute and terminal inflammatory response. Supported by ORIP (P40OD024628), NIAID, NHLBI, and NIGMS.
Severely Ill COVID-19 Patients Display Impaired Exhaustion Features in SARS-CoV-2-Reactive CD8+ T Cells
Kusnadi et al., Science Immunology. 2021.
https://immunology.sciencemag.org/content/6/55/eabe4782.long
How CD8+ T cells respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection is not fully known. Investigators reported on the single-cell transcriptomes of >80,000 virus-reactive CD8+ T cells, obtained using a modified Antigen-Reactive T cell Enrichment assay, from 39 COVID-19 patients and 10 healthy subjects. COVID-19 patient cells were segregated into two groups based on whether the dominant CD8+ T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 was “exhausted” or not. SARS-CoV-2-reactive cells in the exhausted subset were increased in frequency and displayed less cytotoxicity and inflammatory features in COVID-19 patients with mild compared to severe illness. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2-reactive cells in the dominant non-exhausted subset from patients with severe disease showed enrichment of transcripts linked to co-stimulation, pro-survival Nuclear Factor κB signaling, and anti-apoptotic pathways, suggesting the generation of robust CD8+ T cell memory responses in patients with severe COVID-19 illness. Overall, this single-cell analysis revealed substantial diversity in the nature of CD8+ T cells responding to SARS-CoV-2. Supported by ORIP (S10RR027366 and S10OD025052), NIAID, NHLBI, and NIGMS.
Lung Expression of Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 Sensitizes the Mouse to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Han et al., American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1165/rcmb.2020-0354OC
A rapidly deployable mouse model that recapitulates a disease caused by a novel pathogen would be a valuable research tool during a pandemic. Researchers were able to produce C57BL/6J mice with lung expression of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2), the receptor for SARS-CoV-2. They did so by oropharyngeal delivery of a recombinant human adenovirus type 5 expressing hACE2. The transduced mice were then infected with SARS-CoV-2. Thereafter, the mice developed interstitial pneumonia with perivascular inflammation, exhibited higher viral load in lungs compared to controls, and displayed a gene expression phenotype resembling the clinical response in lungs of humans with COVID-19. Supported by ORIP (P51OD011104, R21OD024931), NHLBI, and NIGMS.
The Immune Landscape in Tuberculosis Reveals Populations Linked to Disease and Latency
Esaulova et al., Cell Host Microbe. 2020.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33340449/
Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection of adult rhesus macaques (RMs), predominantly males (81%), recapitulates both latent (LTBI) and active pulmonary TB (PTB) observed in humans. The immune characterization in lungs of RMs with PTB exhibited an influx of plasmacytoid dendritic cells, an interferon-responsive macrophage population, and activated T cell responses. In contrast, a CD27+ natural killer (NK) cell subset accumulated in the lungs of RMs with LTBI. This NK cell population was also detected in the circulation of humans with LTBI. This characterization of lung immune cells enhances our understanding of TB immunopathogenesis and provides potential targets for therapies and vaccines for TB control. Supported by ORIP (P51OD011104 and P51OD011133), NHLBI, and NIAID.
Imbalance of Regulatory and Cytotoxic SARS-CoV-2-Reactive CD4+ T Cells in COVID-19
Meckiff et al., Cell. 2020.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33096020/
It is not clear why COVID-19 is deadly in some people and mild in others. To understand the underlying mechanism, investigators studied the contribution of CD4+ T cells in immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection. They analyzed single-cell transcriptomic data of >100,000 viral antigen-reactive CD4+ T cells from 40 COVID-19 patients. In hospitalized patients compared to non-hospitalized patients, they found increased proportions of cytotoxic follicular helper cells (TFH) and cytotoxic T helper (TH) cells responding to SARS-CoV-2 and reduced proportion of SARS-CoV-2-reactive regulatory T cells (TREG). Importantly, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a strong cytotoxic TFH response was observed early in the illness, which correlated negatively with antibody levels to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Polyfunctional TH1 and TH17 cell subsets were underrepresented in the repertoire of SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4+ T cells compared to influenza-reactive CD4+ T cells. Together, these analyses provided insights into the gene expression patterns of SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4+ T cells in distinct disease severities. Supported by ORIP (S10RR027366, S10OD025052), NIAID, NHLBI, and NIGMS.