Biomedical subjects

Agnes Le Bon

Publications and source records attributed to Agnes Le Bon.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Direct stimulation of T cells by type I IFN enhances the CD8+ T cell response during cross-priming.

Type I IFN (IFN-alphabeta), which is produced rapidly in response to infection, plays a key role in innate immunity and also acts as a stimulus for the adaptive immune response. We have investigated how IFN-alphabeta induces cross-priming, comparing CD8+ T cell responses generated against soluble protein Ags in the presence or absence of IFN-alphabeta. Injection of IFN-alpha was found to prolong the proliferation and expansion of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells, which was associated with marked up-regulation of IL-2 and IL-15 receptors on Ag-specific cells and expression of IL-15 in the draining lymph node. Surprisingly, neither IL-2 nor IL-15 was required for IFN-alpha-induced cross-priming. Conversely, expression of the IFN-alphabetaR by T cells was shown to be necessary for effective stimulation of the response by IFN-alpha. The finding that T cells represent direct targets of IFN-alphabeta-mediated stimulation reveals an additional mechanism by which the innate response to infection promotes adaptive immunity.

Adoptive Transfer↗

PubMed2006

IFN-alpha/beta-dependent cross-priming induced by specific toll-like receptor agonists.

Toll-like receptors (TLR) are pattern recognition receptors that have been identified as crucial in the initiation of innate immune responses against pathogens. They are thought to be involved in shaping appropriate adaptive immune responses, although their precise contribution has not yet been fully characterised. Our aim was to investigate in vivo the effect of different TLR stimuli on cellular immune responses. We examined the ability of a range of TLR stimuli to induce CD8+ T cell responses against a model soluble protein antigen, ovalbumin (OVA). We found that TLR 3, TLR 4, and TLR 9 agonists induced functional cross-priming, and that this process was dependent on IFN-alpha/beta signalling pathway.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Cutting edge: enhancement of antibody responses through direct stimulation of B and T cells by type I IFN.

Type I IFN (IFN-alphabeta) is induced rapidly by infection and plays a key role in innate antiviral defense. IFN-alphabeta also exerts stimulatory effects on the adaptive immune system and has been shown to enhance Ab and T cell responses. We have investigated the importance of B and T cells as direct targets of IFN-alphabeta during IFN-alpha-mediated augmentation of the Ab response against a soluble protein Ag. Strikingly, the ability of IFN-alpha to stimulate the Ab response and induce isotype switching was markedly reduced in mice in which B cells were selectively deficient for the IFN-alphabetaR. Moreover, IFN-alpha-mediated enhancement of the Ab response was also greatly impaired in mice in which T cells were selectively IFN-alphabetaR-deficient. These results indicate that IFN-alphabetaR signaling in both B and T cells plays an important role in the stimulation of Ab responses by IFN-alphabeta.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Initial T cell frequency dictates memory CD8+ T cell lineage commitment.

Memory T cells can be divided into central memory T cell (T(CM) cell) and effector memory T cell (T(EM) cell) subsets based on homing characteristics and effector functions. Whether T(EM) and T(CM) cells represent interconnected or distinct lineages is unclear, although the present paradigm suggests that T(EM) and T(CM) cells follow a linear differentiation pathway from naive T cells to effector T cells to T(EM) cells to T(CM) cells. We show here that naive T cell precursor frequency profoundly influenced the pathway along which CD8+ memory T cells developed. At low precursor frequency, those T(EM) cells generated represented a stable cell lineage that failed to further differentiate into T(CM) cells. These findings do not adhere to the present dogma regarding memory T cell generation and provide a means for identifying factors controlling memory T cell lineage commitment.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Altered CD45 isoform expression affects lymphocyte function in CD45 Tg mice.

Transgenic mice have been constructed expressing high (CD45RABC) and low (CD45R0) molecular weight CD45 isoforms on a CD45-/- background. Phenotypic analysis and in vivo challenge of these mice with influenza and lymphocytic choriomeningitis viruses shows that T cell differentiation and peripheral T cell function are related to the level of CD45 expression but not to which CD45 isoform is expressed. In contrast, B cell differentiation is not restored, irrespective of the level of expression of a single isoform. All CD45 trangenic mice have T cells with an activated phenotype and increased T cell turnover. These effects are more prominent in CD8 than CD4 cells. The transgenic mice share several properties with humans expressing variant CD45 alleles and provide a model to understand immune function in variant individuals.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Shaping of adaptive immune responses to soluble proteins by TLR agonists: a role for IFN-alpha/beta.

Toll-like receptors (TLR) are believed to play a major role in the recognition of invading organisms, although their ability to shape immune responses is not completely understood. Our aim was to investigate in vivo the effect of different TLR stimuli on the generation of antibody responses and the induction of CD8+ T-cell cross-priming after immunization with soluble protein antigens. While all TLR agonists tested elicited the production of immunomodulatory cytokines, marked differences were observed in their ability to stimulate antigen-specific immune responses. Zymosan, poly(I:C) and CpG DNA, which signal through TLR2/6, 3 and 9, respectively, were found to strongly induce the production of IgG2a antibodies, whereas R-848 (TLR7) and LPS (TLR4) did so much more weakly. In contrast, LPS, poly(I:C) and CpG DNA, but not zymosan, induced functional CD8+ T-cell responses against OVA; peptidoglycan (TLR2/?) and R-848 were also ineffective in stimulating cross-priming. Experiments using IFN-alpha/beta R-deficient mice showed that the induction of cross-priming by LPS and poly(I:C) was abrogated in the absence of IFN-alpha/beta signalling, and induction by CpG DNA was greatly reduced. Overall, our results identify LPS as another TLR agonist that is able to generate functional cross-priming against a soluble protein antigen. In addition, our results demonstrate that the ability of TLR stimuli to initiate CD8+ T-cell responses against soluble protein antigens is largely dependent on the IFN-alpha/beta signalling pathway.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Cross-priming of CD8+ T cells stimulated by virus-induced type I interferon.

CD8+ T cell responses can be generated against antigens that are not expressed directly within antigen-presenting cells (APCs), through a process known as cross-priming. To initiate cross-priming, APCs must both capture extracellular antigen and receive specific activation signals. We have investigated the nature of APC activation signals associated with virus infection that stimulate cross-priming. We show that infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus induces cross-priming by a mechanism dependent on type I interferon (IFN-alpha/beta). Activation of cross-priming by IFN-alpha/beta was independent of CD4+ T cell help or interaction of CD40 and CD40 ligand, and involved direct stimulation of dendritic cells. These data identify expression of IFN-alpha/beta as a mechanism for the induction of cross-priming during virus infections.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Links between innate and adaptive immunity via type I interferon.

Type I interferon (IFN-alpha/beta) is expressed rapidly following exposure to a wide variety of infectious agents and plays a key role in innate control of virus replication. Recent studies have demonstrated that dendritic cells both produce IFN-alpha/beta and undergo maturation in response to IFN-alpha/beta. Moreover, IFN-alpha/beta has been shown to potently enhance immune responses in vivo through the stimulation of dendritic cells. These findings indicate that IFN-alpha/beta serves as a signal linking innate and adaptive immunity.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗