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Journal of Virology, April 2004, p. 3811-3816, Vol. 78, No. 8
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.78.8.3811-3816.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Emory Vaccine Center and Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology of Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329
Received 11 September 2003/ Accepted 16 December 2003
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The correlates for protection against smallpox have not clearly been defined, but they likely involve both humoral and cellular immunity. Exposed individuals with high titers of vaccinia virus-specific neutralizing antibodies exhibit resistance to smallpox, demonstrating a critical role for humoral immunity in protection (14, 18). A recent study in mice evaluating the mechanisms of protection demonstrated that vaccinia virus-specific antibody responses are essential for protection (2). Evidence for a critical role of cellular immunity comes from studies in individuals with T-cell immunodeficiency. Such individuals are at high risk for developing disseminated vaccinia virus infection following smallpox vaccinations (16, 17).
The cellular immunity generated by smallpox vaccinations is long lasting and has been shown to persist for more than 35 years after primary vaccination (5, 13). However, little is known about the temporal dynamics and the differentiation into memory of CD4 and CD8 T cells following either primary or booster vaccination. Studies evaluating cellular immunity after primary vaccination have focused on vaccinia virus-specific CD8 T cells with certain epitope specificity (22) or used techniques that do not distinguish CD4 response from a CD8 response (6, 8, 23). These studies have suggested that the majority of primary response could be CD8 specific. In this report, we longitudinally evaluate the magnitude, kinetics, and effector function of vaccinia virus-raised CD4 and CD8 T cells by using the intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assay. Our results demonstrate that a significant proportion of the cellular immunity generated by smallpox vaccinations is a CD4 response with a Th1-dominant profile. We also show that CD4 T cells show better persistence than CD8 T cells and can be detected for more than 55 years after vaccination.
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ICS assay.
ICS assays were performed as described previously with a few modifications (1, 20). Approximately 106 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were stimulated in 5-ml polypropylene tubes in RPMI medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), and anti-human CD28, anti-human CD49d (1 µg per ml each; Pharmingen, Inc., San Diego, Calif.) in a volume of 100 µl. Approximately 107 PFU of vaccinia virus strain WR (multiplicity of infection [MOI], 10) was added in a volume of 100 µl. This MOI was used based on a previous titration done for a volunteer who had been recently vaccinated. Initial experiments comparing both live and killed vaccinia virus as the stimulating agent revealed that live antigens are superior to killed preparations in terms of stimulating both CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses. After 12 h of incubation at 37°C, 900 µl of RPMI medium containing 10% FBS and monensin (10 µg/ml) was added to enrich the intracellular cytokine levels by blocking the secretion of cytokine, and cells were cultured for an additional 3 h at 37°C at an angle of 5 degrees. Cells were surface stained with fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies to CD8 (clone SK1; Becton Dickinson) at 8 to 10°C for 30 min, washed once with cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 2% FBS, and fixed and permeabilized with Cytofix/Cytoperm solution (Pharmingen, Inc.). Cells were then incubated with fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies to human CD3 (clone UCHT1; Beckman Coulter), gamma interferon (IFN-
) (clone B27; Pharmingen), and interleukin 2 (IL-2) (clone MQ1-17H12; Pharmingen) in Perm wash solution (Pharmingen) for 30 min at 4°C. To detect tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
)- or IL-13-positive cells, antibody to TNF-
(clone Mab11; Pharmingen) or IL-13 (clone JES10-5A2; Pharmingen) was used, respectively, in place of IL-2. Cells were washed twice with Perm wash, washed once with plain PBS, and resuspended in 1% formalin in PBS. Approximately 200,000 lymphocytes were acquired on the FACScalibur and analyzed using FloJo software (Treestar, Inc., San Carlos, Calif.). Lymphocytes were identified based on their scatter patterns; CD3+, CD8- cells were considered CD4-positive T cells, and CD3+, CD8+ cells were considered CD8-positive T cells. Using this assay, we could detect vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells at levels as low as 0.01% of the respective total cells. In unvaccinated controls, the frequencies of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells were below 0.01%.
ELISPOT analysis.
MULTISCREEN 96-well filtration plates (Millipore, Inc., Bedford, Mass.) were coated overnight with the respective anticytokine capture antibody at a concentration of 2 µg/ml in PBS at 8 to 10°C overnight. Plates were washed two times with RPMI medium and then blocked for 1 h with complete medium (RPMI containing 10% FBS) at 37°C. Plates were washed five more times with plain RPMI medium, and cells were seeded in duplicate in 100 µl of complete medium at concentrations ranging from 2 x 104 to 5 x 105 cells per well. Approximately 2 x 106 PFU of vaccinia virus strain WR (MOI, 2) was added in a volume of 100 µl in complete medium. This MOI was used based on a previous titration done for a volunteer who had been recently vaccinated. Cells were cultured at 37°C for about 36 h under a 5% CO2 atmosphere. Plates were washed six times with wash buffer (PBS with 0.05% Tween 20) and then incubated with 1 µg of respective biotinylated anticytokine antibody diluted in wash buffer containing 2% FBS. Plates were incubated for 2 h at 37°C and washed six times with wash buffer. Avidin-horseradish peroxidase (Vector Laboratories, Inc., Burlingame, Calif.) was added to each well and incubated for 60 min at 37°C. Plates were washed six times with wash buffer, and spots were developed with stable 1,4-diamino-2-butanone (DAB) used as substrate (Research Genetics, Inc., Huntsville, Ala.). Spots were counted by using an automated enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) reader (CTL). An ovalbumin peptide (SIINFEKL) was included as a control in each analysis. Background spots for the ovalbumin peptide were generally less than 5 for 5 x 105 PBMCs. This background, when normalized for 106 PBMCs, was less than 10. Only ELISPOT counts of twice the background level (
20) were considered significant. The following capture and detection antibody pairs were used: anti-human IFN-
capture antibody (Clone B27; Pharmingen) and anti-human IFN-
detection antibody (clone 7-86-1; Diapharma Group, Inc., West Chester, Ohio); anti-human IL-4 capture antibody (clone MP4-25D2; Pharmingen) and anti-human IL-4 detection antibody (clone 860F10H12; Biosource International, Camarillo, Calif.); and anti-human IL-13 capture antibody (AF 213; R&D Systems, Minneapolis, Minn.) and anti-human IL-13 detection antibody (BAF 213; R&D Systems).
Statistical analysis. A paired t test on log-transformed values was used to compare the magnitude of decreases in the frequencies of CD4 and CD8 T cells over time. The decreases were expressed as ratios of the week 2 to week 12 levels.
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FIG. 1. Cellular immune responses after primary vaccination. (A) ICS assay to measure vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells. PBMCs were stimulated with vaccinia virus as described in Materials and Methods and stained for CD3, CD8, IFN- , and IL-2. Cells were gated on lymphocytes based on the scatter pattern, analyzed for CD3 expression, and analyzed for the expression of CD8 and IFN- . Cells in the right quadrants represent CD8 cells, and those in the left quadrants represent CD4 cells (CD3 positive, CD8 negative). The frequencies in the upper quadrants are data for IFN- -producing cells expressed as the percentage of total CD4 cells (left quadrants) or total CD8 cells (right quadrants). (B) Frequency of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells at 2 weeks postvaccination. The numbers inside the graph represent the respective geometric mean values.
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, IL-2, and IL-13 during the peak effector (week 2) and memory (week 12) phases. At the peak, about 50% of the IFN-
-positive CD4 cells (Fig. 2A, left panel) also produced TNF-
and IL-2, and only about 20 to 30% of IFN-
-positive CD8 cells produced these cytokines (Fig. 2A, right panel). A small proportion of CD4 cells produced only TNF-
or IL-2, and this population was absent among CD8 cells. In addition, a small proportion of CD4 cells produced exclusively the Th2 cytokine IL-13, whereas none of the CD8 cells produced this cytokine. We also measured IFN-
-, IL-4-, and IL-13-secreting cells by using an ELISPOT assay and obtained similar results (Fig. 2B). In this assay, the geometric mean frequency of IL-4- and IL-13-positive cells was 10 to 15 times lower than the geometric mean frequency of IFN-
-positive cells. In the memory phase, the proportion of IFN-
-positive cells that also produced IL-2 was higher than the peak effector cells, reaching frequencies greater than 70% (Fig. 2A). These results demonstrate that the primary response was biased toward type I cytokines and that the CD4 and CD8 cells had overlapping, yet distinctive, patterns of cytokine production.
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FIG. 2. Cytokine expression profile of vaccinia virus-specific T cells. (A) ICS analysis at 2 weeks (peak effector) and 12 weeks (memory) postvaccination. The numbers in the upper quadrants represent the frequencies of the respective cytokine-producing cells as the percentage of IFN- -producing cells, and the cells numbers in the lower quadrants represent the frequencies of the respective cytokine-producing cells expressed as the percentage of total CD4 cells. (B) ELISPOT analysis at 2 weeks postvaccination. Data represent the geometric mean frequency of three vaccinated individuals. SFU, spot-forming units.
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FIG. 3. Longevity of vaccinia virus-specific T-cell memory. (A) Longitudinal analysis of CD4 and CD8 T cells after primary vaccination in two individuals. (B) Cross-sectional analysis of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells over time. The solid symbols represent data for the responses in naïve individuals. (C) Comparison of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 responses within each vaccinated individual.
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Similar expansion of CD4 and CD8 cells but better persistence of CD4 following booster immunization. To learn more about the temporal dynamics of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells after booster vaccinations, we analyzed the magnitude of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells in 10 individuals that had received a booster vaccination (Fig. 4). Prior to the boost, all individuals had detectable levels of CD4 cells, whereas only six had detectable levels of CD8 cells. By 2 weeks after the boost, both CD4 and CD8 T cells underwent a robust expansion in all vaccinated individuals (Fig. 4A). At this time, the magnitude of CD4 cells ranged from 0.05 to 0.5% of the total CD4 cells and had a geometric mean frequency of 0.22%; in addition, the magnitude of vaccinia virus-specific CD8 cells ranged from 0.12 to 2.4% of the total CD8 cells and had a geometric mean frequency of 0.34%. No significant correlation was observed between the magnitude of the memory response prior to the boost and the magnitude of the peak effector response after the boost for CD4 or CD8 cells (Fig. 4B). In general, at 2 weeks after the boost, the magnitude of the CD8 response was, overall, similar to the magnitude of CD4 response. However, by 12 weeks after the boost, the CD8 responses had undergone a 5.5-fold contraction, whereas the CD4 cells had contracted less than twofold (P = 0.01). Interestingly, CD8 responses in some individuals had fallen below our detection limit by this time, despite being present at high frequencies at the peak response.
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FIG. 4. Cellular immunity after booster immunization. (A) Longitudinal analysis of vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells after booster vaccination. Each symbol represents data for a boosted individual. (B) Comparison of the frequencies of vaccinia virus-specific T cells before and after the boost within each individual. The vertical and the horizontal dotted lines represent the sensitivity of the assay.
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0.03% of total CD4 cells or 20 specific cells per 65,000 CD4 cells. This estimate is 20 times higher than the calculated frequencies estimated in in vitro restimulation assays used in prior studies (5) but is similar to the results in a recent report that also described the detection of long-lived vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells using an ICS assay (10). Comparison of the magnitude of memory CD4 and CD8 T cells within individual vaccinees revealed that CD8 T cells were being selectively lost in a significant proportion of vaccinees by 20 years after vaccination. When boosted, these individuals could generate a robust CD8 response, indicating that they were not compromised in the ability to raise a CD8 response following smallpox vaccination. The kinetics of CD8 T-cell expansion after the boost suggested that this CD8 response might represent a primary response (detectable only by 2 weeks postvaccination) raised by the booster immunization rather than the expansion of memory CD8 cells (data not shown). Interestingly, some of these boosted individuals rapidly lost their CD8 response while maintaining the CD4 response.
Our longitudinal studies are consistent with a recently published cross-sectional study (10), strongly suggesting that vaccinia virus-specific CD4 cells show preferential persistence over vaccinia virus-specific CD8 T cells and that this phenomenon is more pronounced in some individuals than in others. In addition, our study is unique compared to the recently published and other previous studies for the following important reasons. (i) To our knowledge, our study represents the first study that evaluated the magnitude and cytokine expression profile of both CD4 and CD8 T cells at the peak response after vaccination. This analysis was critical (a) to demonstrate that the primary vaccinations raise robust Th1-dominated CD4 T cells in addition to the CD8 T cells and (b) to strongly suggest that the preferential loss of vaccinia virus-specific CD8 T cells may occur very early after vaccination and that this preferential loss may not be due to a difference in the half-life of memory CD4 and CD8 T cells. (ii) In our study, we measured the vaccinia virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells before and after a booster immunization from the same individuals and clearly demonstrated that those individuals that selectively lost CD8 T cells after the primary immunization could generate a robust CD8 T-cell response following booster immunization, a finding signifying that these individuals were not compromised in their ability to raise a CD8 response following smallpox vaccination.
What is the significance of this robust and persistent CD4 T-cell response primed by the smallpox vaccine? CD4 T cells play a crucial role in generating functional memory CD8 T cells (3). Recent experiments in mice demonstrate that CD8 T-cell priming in the absence of CD4 help results in generation of impaired CD8 memory (12, 19, 21). CD4 T cells also play a critical role in generation of B-cell memory (4, 15) and the affinity maturation of antibody. It is reasonable to speculate that the robust CD4 help that is primed during smallpox vaccinations is critical for the generation of long-lived CD8 and B-cell memory and contributes significantly to the protection against smallpox. In addition, our results strongly suggest that the approaches that are currently under development for an alternative vaccine for smallpox should carefully evaluate the magnitude and the quality of the CD4 as well as the CD8 and humoral responses.
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant number R21 AI53488 and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center base grant P51 RR00165 to R.R.A.
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