MAIT cell activation is associated with disease severity markers in acute hantavirus infection.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33763658.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100220 and PMC identifier 7974553.
- 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
Hantaviruses are zoonotic RNA viruses that cause severe acute disease in humans. Infected individuals have strong inflammatory responses that likely cause immunopathology. Here, we studied the response of mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in peripheral blood of individuals with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) caused by Puumala orthohantavirus, a hantavirus endemic in Europe. We show that MAIT cell levels decrease in the blood during HFRS and that residual MAIT cells are highly activated. This activation correlates with HFRS severity markers. <i>In vitro</i> activation of MAIT cells by hantavirus-exposed antigen-presenting cells is dependent on type I interferons (IFNs) and independent of interleukin-18 (IL-18). These findings highlight the role of type I IFNs in virus-driven MAIT cell activation and suggest a potential role of MAIT cells in the disease pathogenesis of viral infections.
Medical subject headings
- Antigen-Presenting Cells
- Hantavirus Infections
- Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
- Lymphocyte Activation
- Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells
- Puumala virus