Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2005. / Not embargoed. Vita. Bibliography: 114-132.

Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2009. / Zsfassung in dt. Sprache.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-103).

Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2001. / Erscheinungsjahr an der Haupttitelstelle: 2000

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2007. / Spine title: Mechanism of tolerance to tyrosinase. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

Les lymphocytes T (LT) CD8+ sont les médiateurs clés de la réponse immunitaire adaptative dirigée contre les pathogènes intracellulaires et les cellules tumorales. Lors d’une infection ou d’une immunisation, ils sont activés en réponse à leur antigène spécifique, prolifèrent et se différencient en cellules effectrices. Les LT CD8+ effecteurs participent à l’élimination du pathogène grâce à leurs fonctions cytotoxiques et à la production de cytokines. Les cellules activées subissent ensuite une phase de contraction à l’issue de laquelle ne subsistera qu’une petite population hétérogène de cellules mémoires qui contribuera à la protection à long terme de l’organisme lors d’infections ultérieures par le même pathogène. Les LT CD8+ peuvent également acquérir un phénotype de cellule mémoire dans des conditions physiologiques en l’absence de reconnaissance antigénique. Ces LT CD8+ mémoires non conventionnels peuvent apparaître dans le thymus (“LT CD8+ mémoires innés thymiques” (TIM) ou en périphérie (“LT CD8+ mémoires virtuels” (VM)). Ces sous-populations de LT CD8+ mémoires conventionnels et non conventionnels peuvent être activés sans reconnaissance antigénique par des cytokines inflammatoires, acquérir des fonctions cytotoxiques et produire des quantités importantes d’IFNγ. Elles contribuent ainsi à la première ligne de défense de l’organisme au même titre que d’autres cellules de l’immunité innée comme les cellules NK, NKT et γδ. Le programme transcriptionnel impliqué dans ces processus de différenciation alternative est mal connu. Eomesodermin (Eomes), un facteur de transcription apparenté à T-bet, joue un rôle central dans l’acquisition du phénotype mémoire et dans la fonction de ces cellules. Cependant, malgré le rôle crucial d’Eomes dans ce contexte, les signaux responsables de son induction et du maintien de son expression ne sont pas clairement établis. Dans ce travail, nous avons montré que les voies de signalisation induites par les interférons (IFN) de type I induisent directement l’expression d’Eomes tant dans les LT CD8+ naïfs que mémoires. Ce processus ne semble pas impacter la différenciation en cellules mémoires conventionnelles. Par contre, nous avons observé que l’absence de cette voie de signalisation affecte de façon importante le phénotype, la fonction et l’expansion au cours du vieillissement des cellules mémoires « virtuelles » (VM). De plus, les IFNs de type I induisent l’expansion de cette population in vivo et de façon dépendante de l’expression d’Eomes. Enfin, nous avons montré que le développement des LT CD8+ mémoires innés thymiques est régulé par les mêmes voies de signalisation induites par les IFNs de type I. Ainsi, ce travail révèle qu’en induisant Eomes, les IFNs de type I sont importants pour le développement, le maintien et la fonction des lymphocytes T CD8+ mémoires non conventionnels. De nombreuses questions subsistent concernant les conditions dans lesquelles se développent ces cellules, leurs fonctions dans la réponse immunitaire et leur présence possible chez l’humain. / Doctorat en Sciences médicales (Médecine) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Submitted by Alessandra Portugal (alessandradf@ioc.fiocruz.br) on 2013-09-24T17:57:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Franklin Souza da Silva_Dissertação.pdf: 2017504 bytes, checksum: 0bb3de10c14f9cc14cda994594ad320a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-24T17:57:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Franklin Souza da Silva_Dissertação.pdf: 2017504 bytes, checksum: 0bb3de10c14f9cc14cda994594ad320a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil / Leishmania spp são modelos de parasitas intracelulares de macrófagos que apresentam uma série de peculiaridades adaptativas nesta fase do seu ciclo biológico. A nossa hipótese é que fragmentos peptídicos da região COOH-terminal das cisteínas proteinases B de Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis atuem como uma dessas peculiaridades, modulando a resposta imune do hospedeiro vertebrado. Nesse trabalho, propomos definir a região bioativa (fragmento peptídico indutor da resposta imune) de dois peptídeos descritos como imunomoduladores durante a infecção experimental por L. (L.) amazonensis. Utilizando o servidor online SYFPEITHI, a partir dos peptídeos P1 (VMVEQVICFD) e P6 (EFCLGGGLCL) foi possível triar sequências peptídicas (P6.1 FCLGGGLCL, P6.2 EFCLGGGLCL, P6.3 EFCLGGGL, P6.4 CLGGGLCL, P6.5 EFCLGGGLC, P6.6 FCLGGGLC, P1.7 VMVEQVICF, P1.8 VMVEQVICFD, P1.9 MVEQVICFD, P1.10 VEQVICFD) que apresentaram um potencial de ligação favorável (escore > 8) aos dímeros de H-2 (H-2Db, H-2Kd, H-2Kk e H-2Ld). Os epítopos preditos foram sintetizados quimicamente e utilizados em ensaios ex vivo e in vitro com as linhagens de camundongos C57BL/6 (H-2Db) e BALB/c (H-2Ld). Os ensaios de quantificação dos linfócitos T CD8+ com o dimeric, H2-Db:Ig e H2-Ld:Ig complexadas aos peptídeos previstos, indicaram a presença de clones deste tipo celular para todos os peptídeos previstos, exceto para o P6.5 na linhagem C57BL/6, nos linfonodos drenantes da infecção. A propriedade de induzir proliferação de linfócitos T CD8+ in vitro foi observada apenas para sete peptídeos previstos (P6.1, P6.3, P6.4, P6.5, P6.6 P1.8 e P1.10) nos ensaios com BALB/c e apenas dois epítopos (P1.7 e P1.10) nos ensaios com C57BL/6. Adicionalmente foram realizados ensaios de interação entre o H2-Db:Ig e H2-Ld:Ig e os peptídeos sintéticos, em tempo real, pela técnica de ressonância plasmônica de superfície. Os peptídeos testados com H-2Db (P6.1, P6.3, P6.4, P6.5, P6.6, P1.7, P1.8 e P1.10) e H-2Lb (P6.2, P6.3, P6.4, P6.5, P6.6 e P1.8 e P1.9) indicaram valores de Ka (~ 10+1-10+3 M-1 s-1) e de Kd ( ∼ 10-4 s-1 - 10-6 s-1) favoráveis para formar complexos com os dímeros H-2Db e H-2Lb em pH neutro. Os valores de G < 0 destes complexos (em ambos os haplotipos), sugeriram que os mesmos existam durante a resposta imune acarretada pela infecção por L. (L.) amazonensis em camundongos. / Leishmania spp are models of intracellular macrophage parasites that show several adaptive peculiarities during that particular phase of the biological cycle. We hypothesized that peptide fragments from the COOH-terminal region of a cysteine proteinase B from Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis act in such peculiar way by modulating the immune response of vertebrate hosts. The aim of this work is the determination of the bioactive region (peptide fragment inducer of immune response) of two peptides described as immunomodulating during experimental infection by L. (L.) amazonensis. Using the online server Syfpeithi for P1(VMVEQVICFD) and P6(EFCLGGGLCL) peptides, we selected short sequences (P6.1 FCLGGGLCL, P6.2 EFCLGGGLCL, P6.3 EFCLGGGL, P6.4 CLGGGLCL, P6.5 EFCLGGGLC, P6.6 FCLGGGLC, P1.7 VMVEQVICF, P1.8 VMVEQVICFD, P1.9 MVEQVICFD, P1.10 VEQVICFD) with favorable binding potential (score > 8) to H-2 dimmers (H-2Db, H-2Kd, H-2Kk and H-2Ld). The predicted epitopes were chemically synthesized and used for ex vivo and in vitro assays with isogenic mice C57BL6 (H-2Db) and BALB/C (H-2Ld). We have also performed a quantification assay of CD8+ T lymphocytes in draining lymph node from lesion. In this assay, we used dimeric, H2-Db:Ig and H2-Ld:Ig, complexed to predicted peptides. The results indicated the presence of CD8+ T lymphocytes clones, for all tested peptides, excep for P6.5 in C57BL/6 mice. The capacity to induce CD8+ T lymphocytes blastogenesis, in vitro, was only observed for seven predicted peptides (P6.1, P6.3, P6.4, P6.5, P6.6 P1.8 and P1.10) in the assay with BALB/c mice cells and only for two peptides (P1.7 and P1.10) in C57BL/6 mice cell assay. Additionally, we performed a binding assay between H2-Db:Ig and H2-Ld:Ig and the synthetic peptides, in real time, by surface plasmon resonance. The peptides tested with H-2Db (P6.1, P6.3, P6.4, P6.5, P6.6, P1.7, P1.8 and P1.10) and H-2Lb (P6.2, P6.3, P6.4, P6.5, P6.6, P1.8 and P1.9) indicated values of Ka (~ 10+1-10+3 M-1 s-1) and Kd (∼ 10-4 s-1 - 10-6 s-1 ) favorable to form complexes with H-2Db e H-2Lb dimmers at neutral pH. The G < 0 values of these complexes (for both haplotypes), suggest that they can exist during the immune response caused by L. (L.) amazonensis infection in mice.

Previous research has provided evidence that CD8 T cells mediate immunity against infection with Theileria parva. However, the immunity induced by one parasite strain doesn‟t give complete protection against other strains and this is associated with parasite strain specificity of the CD8 T cell responses. There is evidence that such strain specificity is a consequence of the CD8 T cell responses of individual animals being focused on a limited number of immunodominant polymorphic peptide-MHC determinants. Dominant responses to the Tp2 antigen have been demonstrated in animals homozygous for the A10 MHC haplotype. Three Tp2 epitopes recognised by A10+ animals (Tp249-59, Tp250-59 and Tp298-106) have been defined. This project set out to investigate the dominance of these epitopes and to examine the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires of the responding T cells. The specific objectives were to: (i) Determine the dominance hierarchies of the three defined Tp2 epitopes in both A10-homozygous and -heterozygous cattle. (ii) Examine the clonal repertoires of epitope-specific responses by analysis of TCR gene expression. (iii) Isolate full-length cDNAs encoding TCR α and β chain pairs from T cell clones of defined epitope specificity and use them to generate cells expressing the functional TCRs. Using MHC class I tetramers the relative dominance of CD8 T cell responses were found to differ between A10-homozygous and heterozygous cattle. All A10-homozygous cattle examined had detectable responses to all 3 Tp2 epitopes, the Tp249-59 epitope consistently being the most dominant. By contrast, only some A10-heterozygous cattle had detectable responses to Tp2 and when present the response was specific only for the Tp298-106 epitope. Analyses of the sequences of expressed TCR β chains showed that the responses in individual animals were clonotypically diverse, but often contained a few large expanded clonotypes. The TCRs of Tp298-106–specific T cells showed preferential usage of the Vβ13.5 gene and the frequent presence of a “LGG” motif within the CDR3 of the B chain. A conserved (public) TCRβ clonotype shared by the Tp250-59-specific CD8 T cells from all A10-homozygous cattle was identified. The TCRα chains co-expressed with this public TCRβ clonotype were identified for a number of T cell clones. Lentivirus transduction of Jurkat cells with three full-length TCR α and β chain pairs resulted in successful expression of one of the α/β chain pairs as a functional TCR, thus providing the basis for future work to generate bovine T cells expressing defined TCRs in vitro.

The relationship between human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections and accelerated immune senescence is controversial. Whereas some studies reported a CMV-associated impaired capacity to control heterologous infections at old age, other studies could not confirm this. We hypothesized that these discrepancies might relate to the variability in the infectious dose of CMV occurring in real life. Here, we investigated the influence of persistent CMV infection on immune perturbations and specifically addressed the role of the infectious dose on the contribution of CMV to accelerated immune senescence. We show in experimental mouse models that the degree of mouse CMV (MCMV)-specific memory CD8(+) T cell accumulation and the phenotypic T cell profile are directly influenced by the infectious dose, and data on HCMV-specific T cells indicate a similar connection. Detailed cluster analysis of the memory CD8(+) T cell development showed that high-dose infection causes a differentiation pathway that progresses faster throughout the life span of the host, suggesting a virus-host balance that is influenced by aging and infectious dose. Importantly, short-term MCMV infection in adult mice is not disadvantageous for heterologous superinfection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). However, following long-term CMV infection the strength of the CD8(+) T cell immunity to LCMV superinfection was affected by the initial CMV infectious dose, wherein a high infectious dose was found to be a prerequisite for impaired heterologous immunity. Altogether our results underscore the importance of stratification based on the size and differentiation of the CMV-specific memory T cell pools for the impact on immune senescence, and indicate that reduction of the latent/lytic viral load can be beneficial to diminish CMV-associated immune senescence.

Cancer vaccines can fail despite the induction of large numbers of CD8+ T cells. Two categories of memory CD8+ T cells have been defined; central memory (TCM, IL-7RαhighCD44highCD62Lhigh) and effector memory (TEM, IL-7RαhighCD44highCD62Llow). It is clear that the memory phenotype of CD8+ T cells can affect vaccine potential; however methods to augment a beneficial phenotype are not clear. I have compared three vaccine delivery systems: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and the particulate liposomal adjuvant, archaeosomes, for their efficacy to protect against murine melanoma. My study revealed that the anti-tumour response is strongly influenced by the kinetics, phenotype, and lymph node homing potential of CD8+ T cells. Listeria monocytogenes-ovalbumin (LM-OVA) induced TCM cells were adept at long lasting protection against B16-OVA melanoma due to their increased homeostatic and antigen-induced proliferation, interleukin-2 production, and ability to extravasate into tumour draining lymph nodes. Conversely, although Salmonella Typhimurium-ovalbumin (ST-OVA) induced TEM, produced IFN-γ, and killed target cells, this was insufficient for long-term tumour protection. Selectin-ligand engagements of TCM cells influenced their homing potential and efficacy against murine melanoma. Fucosyltransferase deficient (FtDKO) mice, lacking functional selectin ligands, were vaccinated with LM-OVA; despite the activation of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, there was a reduced protection against murine melanoma compared to wild-type. FtDKO CD8+ T cells exhibited reduced extravasation into FtDKO lymph nodes compared to wild-type. Additionally, fewer FtDKO CD8+ T cells compared to wild-type migrated into tumour sites. Archaeosome vaccination was used to compare the influence of CD8+ T cell quantity versus phenotype. Single or multiple therapeutic vaccinations with archaeosome-OVA yielded transient melanoma tumour protection, despite an increased frequency of circulating and tumour infiltrating CD8+ T cells. This correlated with increased expression of Program death receptor-1 (PD-1) on CD8+ T cells and induction of regulatory T cells. Prophylactic archaeosome-OVA vaccination resulted in a maximal frequency of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells of ~50-60 % with just three injections, and ~50 % of the mice were of mice were afforded long-term tumour protection (> 90 days). Overall, my study shows that the choice of vaccine adjuvant and/or vector can profoundly influence CD8+ T cell quality and cancer vaccine efficacy.