Badley, Andrew D

Abstract After a primary immune response, T cell memory occurs when a subset of Ag-specific T cells resists peripheral selection by acquiring resistance to TCR-induced death. Recent data have implicated Bcl-2 interacting mediator of death (Bim) as an essential mediator of the contraction phase of T cell immunity. In this article, we describe that stromal-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) ligation of CXCR4 on activated T cells promotes two parallel processes that favor survival, phospho-inactivation of Foxo3A, as well as Bim extralong isoform (BimEL) degradation, both in an Akt- and Erk-dependent manner. Activated primary CD4 T cells treated with SDF-1α therefore become resistant to the proapoptotic effects of TCR ligation or IL-2 deprivation and accumulate cells of a memory phenotype. Unlike SDF-1α, gp120 ligation of CXCR4 has the opposite effect because it causes p38-dependent BimEL upregulation. However, when activated CD4 T cells are treated with both gp120 and SDF-1α, the SDF-1α–driven effects of BimEL degradation and acquired resistance to TCR-induced death predominate. These results provide a novel causal link between SDF-1α–induced chemotaxis, degradation of BimEL, and the development of CD4 T cell memory.

ABSTRACT Underlying mechanisms of individual variation in severity of influenza infection and response to vaccination are poorly understood. We investigated the effect of reduced heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) expression on vaccine response and outcome of influenza infection. HO‐1‐deficient and wild‐type (WT) mice (kingdom, Animalia; phylum, Chordata; genus/species, Mus musculus ) were infected with influenza virus A/PR/8/34 with or without prior vaccination with an adeno‐viral‐based influenza vaccine. A genome‐wide association study evaluated the expression of single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HO‐1 gene and the response to influenza vaccination in healthy humans. HO‐1‐deficient mice had decreased survival after influenza infection compared to WT mice (median survival 5.5 vs. 6.5 d, P =0.016). HO‐1‐deficient mice had impaired production of antibody following influenza vaccination compared to WT mice (mean antibody titer 869 vs. 1698, P =0.02). One SNP in HO‐1 and one SNP in the constitutively expressed isoform HO‐2 were independently associated with decreased antibody production after influenza vaccination in healthy human volunteers ( P =0.017 and 0.014, respectively). HO‐1 deficient mice were paired with sex‐ and age‐matched WT controls. HO‐1 affects the immune response to both influenza infection and vaccination, suggesting that therapeutic induction of HO‐1 expression may represent a novel adjuvant to enhance influenza vaccine effectiveness.—Cummins, N. W., Weaver, E. A., May, S. M., Croatt, A. J., Foreman, O., Kennedy, R. B., Poland, G. A., Barry, M. A., Nath, K. A., Badley, A. D. Heme oxygenase‐1 regulates the immune response to influenza virus infection and vaccination in aged mice. FASEB J. 26, 2911–2918 (2012). www.fasebj.org

ABSTRACT Casp8p41, a novel protein generated when HIV-1 protease cleaves caspase 8, independently causes NF-κB activation, proinflammatory cytokine production, and cell death. Here we investigate the mechanism by which Casp8p41 induces cell death. Immunogold staining and electron microscopy demonstrate that Casp8p41 localizes to mitochondria of activated primary CD4 T cells, suggesting mitochondrial involvement. Therefore, we assessed the dependency of Casp8p41-induced death on Bax/Bak and caspase 9. In wild-type (WT) mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells, Casp8p41 causes rapid mitochondrial depolarization ( P < 0.001), yet Casp8p41 expression in Bax/Bak double-knockout (DKO) MEF cells does not. Similarly, caspase 9-deficient T cells (JMR cells), which express Casp8p41, undergo minimal cell death, whereas reconstituting these cells with caspase 9 (F9 cells) restores Casp8p41 cytotoxicity ( P < 0.01). The infection of caspase 9-deficient cells with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) HIV-1 reporter virus results in cell death in 32% of infected GFP-positive cells, while the restoration of caspase 9 expression in these cells restores infected-cell killing to 68% ( P < 0.05), with similar levels of viral replication between infections. Our data demonstrate that Casp8p41 requires Bax/Bak to induce mitochondrial depolarization, which leads to caspase 9 activation following either Casp8p41 expression or HIV-1 infection. This understanding allows the design of strategies to interrupt this form of death of HIV-1-infected cells.

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection causes apoptosis of infected CD4 T cells as well as uninfected (bystander) CD4 and CD8 T cells. It remains unknown what signals cause infected cells to die. We demonstrate that HIV-1 protease specifically cleaves procaspase 8 to create a novel fragment termed casp8p41, which independently induces apoptosis. casp8p41 is specific to HIV-1 protease-induced death but not other caspase 8-dependent death stimuli. In HIV-1-infected patients, casp8p41 is detected only in CD4 + T cells, predominantly in the CD27 + memory subset, its presence increases with increasing viral load, and it colocalizes with both infected and apoptotic cells. These data indicate that casp8p41 independently induces apoptosis and is a specific product of HIV-1 protease which may contribute to death of HIV-1-infected cells.

ABSTRACTWhileCryptosporidium parvuminfection of the intestine has been reported in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals, biliary infection is seen primarily in adult AIDS patients and is associated with development of AIDS cholangiopathy. However, the mechanisms of pathogen-induced AIDS cholangiopathy remain unclear. Since we previously demonstrated that the Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) system is involved in paracrine-mediatedC. parvumcytopathicity in cholangiocytes, we also tested the potential synergistic effects of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transactivator of transcription (Tat)-mediated FasL regulation onC. parvum-induced apoptosis in cholangiocytes by semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR, immunoblotting, immunofluorescence analysis, and immunogold electron microscopy. H69 cells do not express CXCR4 and CCR5, which are receptors required for direct HIV-1 viral infection. However, recombinant biologically active HIV-1-associated Tat protein increased FasL expression in the cytoplasm of cholangiocytes without a significant increase in apoptosis. We found thatC. parvum-induced apoptosis was associated with translocation of intracellular FasL to the cell membrane surface and release of full-length FasL from infected H69 cells. Tat significantly (P< 0.05) increasedC. parvum-induced apoptosis in bystander cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, Tat enhanced bothC. parvum-induced FasL membrane translocation and release of full-length FasL. In addition, the FasL neutralizing antibody NOK-1 and the caspase-8 inhibitor Z-IETD-fmk both blockedC. parvum-induced apoptosis in cholangiocytes. The data demonstrated that HIV-1 Tat enhancesC. parvum-induced cholangiocyte apoptosis via a paracrine-mediated, FasL-dependent mechanism. Our results suggest that concurrent active HIV replication, with associated production of Tat protein, andC. parvuminfection synergistically increase cholangiocyte apoptosis and thus jointly contribute to AIDS-related cholangiopathies.

ABSTRACTLatently human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected memory CD4+T cells represent the major obstacle to eradicating HIV from infected patients. Antigens, T-cell receptor (TCR) ligation, and phorbol esters can reactivate HIV from latency in a protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent manner; however, it is unknown which specific PKC isoforms are required for this effect. We demonstrate that constitutively active (CA) forms of both PKCθ, PKCθA148E, and PKCα, PKCαA25E, induce HIV long terminal repeat (LTR)-dependent transcription in Jurkat and primary human CD4+T cells and that both PKCθA148E and PKCαA25E cause HIV reactivation in J1.1 T cells. Suppression of both PKCα and PKCθ with short hairpinned (sh) RNA inhibited CD3/CD28-induced HIV LTR-dependent transcription and HIV reactivation in J1.1 T cells. Both prostratin and phorbol myristate 13-acetate induced HIV LTR-dependent transcription and HIV reactivation in J1.1 T cells that was blocked by shRNA against either PKCα or PKCθ. Since suppression of PKCα and PKCθ together has no greater inhibitory effect on HIV reactivation than inhibition of PKCα alone, our data confirm that PKCα and PKCθ act in sequence. The requirement for PKCα and PKCθ for prostratin-induced HIV reactivation and the ability of selective PKCα or PKCθ agonists to induce HIV transcription indicate that these PKC isoforms are important targets for therapeutic drug design.

ABSTRACT The pathophysiology of sepsis involves excessive lymphocyte apoptosis, which correlates with adverse outcomes, and disordered cytokine production, which may promote host injury. As the protease inhibitor (PI) class of antiretroviral agents is known to prevent apoptosis in vitro, we evaluated their effect on survival, lymphocyte apoptosis, and consequent cytokine production in mice with sepsis induced by cecal ligation and perforation. Mice pretreated with PIs have improved survival (67%; P <0.0005) compared with controls (17%) and a significant (P<0.05) reduction in lymphocyte apoptosis. Even mice receiving therapy beginning 4 h after perforation demonstrated improved survival (50%; P <0.05) compared with controls. PI therapy is also associated with an increase in the Th1 cytokine TNF‐a ( P <0.05) early in sepsis and a reduction in the Th2 cytokines IL‐6 and IL‐10 ( P <0.05) late in sepsis; despite no intrinsic antibacterial effects, PI also reduced quantitative bacterial blood cultures. The beneficial effects of PI appear to be specific to lymphocyte apoptosis, as lymphocyte‐deficient Rag1—/— mice did not experience benefit from treatment with PI. Thus, inhibition of lymphocyte apoptosis by PI is a candidate approach for the treatment of sepsis.— Weaver, J. G. R., Rouse, M. S., Steckelberg, J. M., Badley, A. D. Improved survival in experimental sepsis with an orally administered inhibitor of apoptosis. FASEB J. 18, 1185–1191 (2004)

ABSTRACTThe ability of interleukin-7 (IL-7) and IL-15 to expand and/or augment effector cell functions may be of therapeutic benefit to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. The functional effects of these cytokines on innate HIV-specific immunity and their impact on cells harboring HIV are unknown. We demonstrate that both IL-7 and IL-15 augment natural killer (NK) function by using cells (CD3−CD16+CD56+) from both HIV-positive and -negative donors. Whereas IL-7 enhances NK function through upregulation of Fas ligand, the effect of IL-15 is mediated through upregulation of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand. The difference in these effector mechanisms is reflected by the ability of IL-15-treated but not IL-7-treated NK cells to reduce the burden of replication-competent HIV in autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) (infectious units per million for control NK cells, 6.79; for IL-7-treated NK cells, 236.17; for IL-15-treated cells, 1.01;P= 0.01 versus control). In addition, the treatment of PBMC with IL-15-treated but not IL-7-treated NK cells causes undetectable HIV p24 (five of five cases), HIV RNA (five of five cases), or HIV DNA (three of five cases). These results support the concept of adjuvant immunotherapy of HIV infection with either IL-7 or IL-15 but suggest that the NK-mediated antiviral effect of IL-15 may be superior.