Immune profiling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific T cells in recent and remote infection.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33610126.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103233 and PMC identifier 7902886.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Recent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection is associated with a higher risk of progression to tuberculosis disease, compared to persistent infection after remote exposure. However, current immunodiagnostic tools fail to distinguish between recent and remote infection. We aimed to characterise the immunobiology associated with acquisition of M.tb infection and identify a biomarker that can distinguish recent from remote infection. Healthy South African adolescents were serially tested with QuantiFERON-TB Gold to define recent (QuantiFERON-TB conversion <6 months) and persistent (QuantiFERON-TB+ for >1.5 year) infection. We characterised M.tb-specific CD4 T cell functional (IFN-γ, TNF, IL-2, CD107, CD154), memory (CD45RA, CCR7, CD27, KLRG-1) and activation (HLA-DR) profiles by flow cytometry after CFP-10/ESAT-6 peptide pool or M.tb lysate stimulation. We then assessed the diagnostic performance of immune profiles that were differentially expressed between individuals with recent or persistent QuantiFERON-TB+. CFP-10/ESAT-6-specific CD4 T cell activation but not functional or memory phenotypes distinguished between individuals with recent and persistent QuantiFERON-TB+. In response to M.tb lysate, recent QuantiFERON-TB+ individuals had lower proportions of highly differentiated IFN-γ+TNF+ CD4 T cells expressing a KLRG-1+ effector phenotype and higher proportions of early differentiated IFN-γ-TNF+IL-2+ and activated CD4 T cells compared to persistent QuantiFERON-TB+ individuals. Among all differentially expressed T cell features CFP-10/ESAT-6-specific CD4 T cell activation was the best performing diagnostic biomarker of recent infection. Recent M.tb infection is associated with highly activated and moderately differentiated functional M.tb-specific T cell subsets, that can be used as biomarkers to distinguish between recent and remote infection. US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, South African National Research Foundation, South African Medical Research Council, and Aeras.
Medical subject headings
- Host-Pathogen Interactions
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- T-Cell Antigen Receptor Specificity
- T-Lymphocytes
- Tuberculosis