Download Divergent TLR7 and TLR9 signaling and type I interferon production

© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
ARTICLES
Divergent TLR7 and TLR9 signaling and type I interferon
production distinguish pathogenic and nonpathogenic
AIDS virus infections
Judith N Mandl1,2,6, Ashley P Barry2,6, Thomas H Vanderford2, Natalia Kozyr2, Rahul Chavan2,
Sara Klucking2, Franck J Barrat3, Robert L Coffman3, Silvija I Staprans2,4,5 & Mark B Feinberg2,4,5
Pathogenic HIV infections of humans and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infections of rhesus macaques are characterized by
generalized immune activation and progressive CD4+ T cell depletion. In contrast, natural reservoir hosts for SIV, such as sooty
mangabeys, do not progress to AIDS and show a lack of aberrant immune activation and preserved CD4+ T cell populations, despite
high levels of SIV replication. Here we show that sooty mangabeys have substantially reduced levels of innate immune system activation in vivo during acute and chronic SIV infection and that sooty mangabey plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) produce markedly
less interferon-a in response to SIV and other Toll-like receptor 7 and 9 ligands ex vivo. We propose that chronic stimulation of pDCs
by SIV and HIV in non-natural hosts may drive the unrelenting immune system activation and dysfunction underlying AIDS
progression. Such a vicious cycle of continuous virus replication and immunopathology is absent in natural sooty mangabey hosts.
A hallmark of HIV infection is chronic activation of the immune
system in association with dysfunction of cellular and humoral
immune responses and failure to effectively control virus replication.
After HIV infection, turnover rates of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are
elevated, high levels of activation-induced cell death are seen in both T
cell subsets independent of their infection by HIV1–3, B cells are
polyclonally activated with consequent hypergammaglobulinemia4,
natural killer (NK) cell activation and turnover is increased5 and
dendritic cell (DC) numbers are diminished in the peripheral blood6.
This chronic inflammatory environment compromises CD4+ T cell
regenerative capacity as a result of suppression of bone marrow,
reduction of thymic function and impairment of the structural and
functional integrity of peripheral lymphoid tissues7. Indeed, it is now
recognized that chronic, generalized immune activation is a major
driving force for CD4+ T cell depletion and AIDS progression7,8.
We have studied one of the natural African primate reservoir hosts
for SIV, the sooty mangabey. Sooty mangabeys are infected with SIVsm
strains documented to be the origin of HIV-2 in humans, as well as the
source of SIVs used in experimental AIDS pathogenesis and vaccine
studies in rhesus macaques9. Rather surprisingly, key features proposed
to have central roles in driving AIDS progression in HIV-1–infected
humans and SIV-infected rhesus macaques, including chronic high
levels of viremia, preferential tropism of SIV and HIV for CD4+ T cells,
short half-lives of virus-infected cells and severe depletion of mucosal
CD4+ T cells, have also been found to characterize nonpathogenic SIV
infections of sooty mangabeys10–13. However, SIV-infected sooty mangabeys show far lower levels of chronic immune activation than
SIV-infected rhesus macaques or HIV-infected humans13.
To explore how sooty mangabeys avoid aberrant immune activation,
we developed a comparative experimental infection model in which
sooty mangabeys and non-natural rhesus macaque hosts are inoculated
with SIVsm obtained directly from a naturally infected sooty mangabey14. Only SIVsm-infected rhesus macaques develop progressive
CD4+ T cell depletion and AIDS, indicating that it is the host response
to infection, rather than properties inherent to the virus itself, that
causes immunodeficiency in disease-susceptible primate hosts14. Notably, divergent host responses to SIV are manifested early after infection,
with significantly attenuated adaptive cellular immune responses seen
in sooty mangabeys compared with rhesus macaques14. Here we
identify host-specific differences in innate immune responses that
influence the induction of adaptive antiviral immune responses and
that may represent primary determinants of whether or not immune
activation and immunodeficiency disease follow AIDS virus infection.
RESULTS
Limited NK cell expansion in SIV-infected sooty mangabeys
We sought to identify the earliest evidence of a divergent host response
to SIV infection in sooty mangabeys compared to rhesus macaques by
studying innate immune cell populations in vivo during acute SIVsm
infection. Uncloned SIVsm replicated well in the three animals
1Graduate Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Emory University, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. 2Emory Vaccine Center and
Yerkes National Primate Research Center, 954 Gatewood Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA. 3Dynavax Technologies, 2929 Seventh Street, Berkeley, California
94710, USA. 4Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, 954 Gatewood Road, Atlanta, Georgia
30329, USA. 5Current address: Merck Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Merck & Co., Inc., WP97-A337, 770 Sumneytown Pike, PO Box 4, West Point, Pennsylvania
19486, USA. 6These authors contributed equally to this work. Correspondence should be addressed to M.B.F. ([email protected]).
Received 2 April; accepted 21 August; published online 14 September 2008; doi:10.1038/nm.1871
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infected from both species, with comparable virus replication
(Fig. 1a). As we observed in an earlier study14, there were notable
differences in the extent of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation, as
measured by expression of the Ki67 proliferation marker after SIV
inoculation, with rhesus macaques showing considerably greater and
sustained proliferation, while sooty mangabeys showed limited or
transient T cell proliferation (Supplementary Fig. 1 online).
To explore whether the differences in adaptive immune response
were preceded by differences in the innate immune response, we
followed the proliferative response of NK cells (Fig. 1b,c). Similar to
the limited changes in T cell proliferation that we observed in sooty
mangabeys, the percentage of Ki67+ NK cells in sooty mangabeys did
not increase substantially after infection (Fig. 1b,c). This was in
RM1
RM2
RM3
SM1
SM2
SM3
c
107
105
3
10
contrast to the large NK cell expansion observed in rhesus macaques
(Fig. 1b,c). Thus, the divergent sooty mangabey response to SIVsm
is manifested very early after infection, at the level of the innate
immune response.
Lack of sooty mangabey pDC activation in acute SIV infection
As DCs are key initiators of immune responses, we next explored the
in vivo response of sooty mangabey and rhesus macaque DCs to SIV
infection. Two subsets of blood DCs have been identified in humans
and rhesus macaques15,16: CD11c+ myeloid DCs (mDCs) and CD123+
pDCs. Of particular importance in eliciting host responses to viral
infections, pDCs produce large amounts of type I interferons (IFNs),
resulting in the maturation of mDCs into efficient antigen-presenting
25
e
RM
SM
20
15
10
5
101
40
30
20
10
0
20
30
40
Time after infection (d)
50
d
b
SSC
SM
2.09
20
30
40
Time after infection (d)
2.3
50
60
Plasmacytoid DC
FSC
1.4 µm
35.8
Myeloid DC
NK cells
Day –14
g
Day 10
Percentage lymph node pDCs
CD123
1.4
0.5
9.4
6.3
0.7
8.7
PB
1.2
1.7
CD11c
10
15
20
Time after infection (d)
25
30
Day –14
Day 10
30
Day 14
LN
11
30
10
28
12
1.2
1.6
25
1.4 µm
RM
Day 10
8.6
20
20
CD123
SM
Day –14
5
15
0
CD11c
f
0
10
30
Day 10
CD16
5
40
Lineage
CD16
0
50
HLA-DR
Ki67
10
RM
1.39
Day 0
FSC
0
0
60
+
Percentage CCR7 mDCs
10
SSC
0
SM1
SM2
SM3
RM1
RM2
RM3
50
Percentage CCR7 + pDCs
109
Percentage Ki67 + NK cells
SIV RNA copies per milliliter
a
CD8
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
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2.3
20
10
0
ND
ND
RM1
RM2
ND
RM3
SM1
ND
SM2
ND
SM3
Figure 1 Muted NK cell activation and DC maturation and homing during acute SIVsm infection of sooty mangabeys compared to rhesus macaques.
(a) Plasma SIV viral load in three rhesus macaques (RMs) and three sooty mangabeys (SMs) infected intravenously with the same uncloned SIVsm. (b) NK
cells in RMs and SMs were identified by first gating on lymphocytes and then gating on CD16+CD8+ cells. Percentage Ki67+ NK cells on day 0 and day 14
after SIV infection are shown in a representative RM and SM. SSC, side scatter; FSC, forward scatter. (c) Percentage proliferating (Ki67+) NK cells in RMs
and SMs. Means ± s.e.m. are shown. (d) DCs in RMs and SMs were identified by first excluding granulocytes (based on FSC and SSC), then gating on HLADR+ lineage (CD14, CD3, CD20)-negative cells. pDCs express CD123 and mDCs express CD11c. Representative electron micrographs of sorted blood pDCs
and mDCs from SMs are shown. (e) CCR7 expression on pDCs (top) and mDCs (bottom) in peripheral blood of SMs and RMs after inoculation with SIV.
(f) DC populations in lymph node (LN) and peripheral blood (PB) samples taken on day 0 and day 10 after SIV infection in representative RMs and SMs,
shown gated on HLA-DR+ lineage-negative cells. (g) Percentage lymph node pDCs at day –14, day 10 and day 14 after SIV infection in SMs (blue) and RMs
(red). ND, not done. Numbers on FACS plots indicate percentage of cells in the gates shown.
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c
b
4,000
PBMC
pDC-depleted
2,000
–1
IFN-α (pg ml )
IFN-α (pg ml–1)
IFN-α (pg ml–1)
3,000
2,000
*
1,000
** **
0
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ic
N le s
o
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IR 54
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iHIV stimulation
** **
20 5
Chloroquine
(µM)
es
es
i
N cle
o
in stim
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t
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S9
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IR 661
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ic
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M
ic
r
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
1,000
*
1,000
100
75
*
50
25
***
0
iS
IV
2,000
3,000
4,000
Percentage of pre–pDC depletion
IFN-α production
5,000
**
***
iH
IV
In
(li flu
ve e
ai nza
ch
i)
C
pG
A
a
iSIV stim
Figure 2 SIV and HIV stimulate IFN-a production via TLR7 and TLR9 on pDCs. (a,b) IFN-a production by HIV– human PBMCs (a) or SIV– RM PBMCs (b)
after stimulation with microvesicle controls, iSIV or iHIV. The inhibitory effects of specific oligodeoxynucleotide inhibitors of TLR7 (5.6 mM IRS661), TLR9
(5.6 mM IRS869), both TLR7 and TLR9 (5.6 mM IRS954 or 2 mM DV056), a nonspecific oligodeoxynucleotide control (ODN cntrl) or the endosome
acidification inhibitor chloroquine (20 mM and 5 mM) are shown. Histograms represent means ± s.e.m. of seven humans (iSIV) or three humans (iHIV) in a
and of three RMs in b. (c) IFN-a production by HIV– human PBMCs stimulated with iSIV, iHIV, live influenza (aichi) or CpG A2336 (CpG A) before and after
having been depleted of pDCs. *P o 0.05, **P o 0.01 and ***P o 0.001.
cells15,17 and facilitating the induction of antiviral CD8+ T cell, CD4+
T cell, NK cell and B cell responses18–20. In both sooty mangabeys and
rhesus macaques, DCs could be divided into pDCs and mDCs with
antibodies for CD123 and CD11c, respectively (Fig. 1d). As neither
pDC nor mDC populations have previously been described in sooty
mangabeys, we expanded DCs in vivo in SIV-uninfected sooty
mangabeys by treating them with fms-like tyrosine kinase ligand
(Flt3L), sorted the DCs for both subsets and then examined their
morphology by electron microscopy (Fig. 1d). Sooty mangabey pDCs
and mDCs showed the characteristic features of these cells described in
humans and rhesus macaques15,16,20.
The migration of activated and maturing DCs to lymph nodes is
pivotal to the generation of immune responses15. Exposure of human
DCs to HIV-1 results in upregulation of maturation markers on pDCs,
as well as expression of CCR7 that enables pDCs to migrate to lymph
nodes in response to its ligands CCL19 and CCL2115,17. Therefore, we
investigated the in vivo maturation and trafficking of DCs in rhesus
macaques versus sooty mangabeys after infection with SIVsm. Rhesus
macaque pDCs upregulated CCR7 expression after SIVsm infection,
and, in some rhesus macaques, CCR7 expression was also increased in
mDCs (Fig. 1e). However, there was little change in pDC or mDC
CCR7 expression in sooty mangabeys (Fig. 1e). Consistent with the
known role of CCR7 in immune cell homing to lymphoid tissue, we
observed an association between CCR7 expression on blood pDCs and
the accumulation of pDCs in lymph nodes (Fig. 1e,g). In rhesus
macaques, an increase in the frequency of lymph node pDCs was seen
on days 10 and 14 after infection, whereas such pDC migration was
lacking in sooty mangabeys (Fig. 1f,g).
SIV stimulates IFN-a production by pDCs via TLR7 and TLR9
Plasmacytoid DCs are known to express Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7)
and TLR9 and to secrete IFN-a upon TLR7 and TLR9 signaling21.
TLR7 recognizes single-stranded RNA, and TLR9 recognizes unmethylated CpG-oligodeoxynucleotide–containing DNA21. TLR7 and TLR9
have also been implicated in the recognition of HIV by pDCs and in
their consequent IFN-a production after HIV stimulation22,23. However, TLR recognition of SIV has not been investigated in humans,
rhesus macaques or sooty mangabeys. We observed that both
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aldrithiol-2–inactivated HIV (iHIV) and SIV (iSIV) elicit the production of large amounts of IFN-a from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs; Fig. 2a). We next made use of defined
nonstimulatory DNA sequences, termed immunoregulatory sequences
(IRS), able to inhibit cytokine production by human PBMCs after
stimulation with TLR7 or TLR9 ligands24, to assess the impact of
inhibition of TLR7, TLR9 or both on the production of type I
interferon upon PBMCs with iHIV or iSIV stimulation of PBMCs.
Adding antagonists of TLR7 (IRS661), TLR9 (IRS869) or both TLR7
and TLR9 (IRS954) to iHIV-stimulated human PBMCs significantly
reduced IFN-a production (Fig. 2a). This is consistent with previous
results22, and, similar to those results, we were also unable to rule
out a role for TLR9 in the recognition of HIV-1 (Fig. 2a). Likewise,
iSIV-induced IFN-a production by human PBMCs was significantly
inhibited by the addition of IRS661, IRS869 or IRS954 (Fig. 2a).
Furthermore, chloroquine, an endosome acidification inhibitor that
blocks both TLR7 and TLR9 signaling, inhibited SIV-stimulated IFN-a
secretion to below detection (Fig. 2a). Of note, the greater inhibition of
SIV-stimulated type I interferon production with the dual TLR7 and
TLR9 inhibitor compared to each single TLR antagonist alone lends
support to a possible role for both TLR7 and TLR9 in the recognition
of SIV.
The development of a potent dual TLR7 and TLR9 antagonist,
DV056, a 25-base single-stranded phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide that retains the key inhibitory motifs previously described24
but has been modified for optimum activity in both rhesus macaques
and humans (data not shown), allowed us to ask whether the same
TLR7 and TLR9 pathway responsible for recognition of SIV and HIV
in humans is responsible for recognition of SIV in rhesus macaques.
As with IRS954, stimulation of human PBMCs with iSIV in the
presence of DV056 markedly inhibited IFN-a production (Fig. 2a).
The addition of DV056 to rhesus macaque PBMCs stimulated with
iSIV resulted in 490% inhibition of IFN-a production (Fig. 2b).
Thus, SIV, like HIV, requires TLR7, TLR9 or both to induce a type I
interferon response in both rhesus macaques and humans.
To investigate whether pDCs were producing the IFN-a induced by
the recognition of HIV and SIV via TLR7 and TLR9 signaling pathways, we depleted pDCs from human PBMCs and measured IFN-a
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P < 0.001
a
NS
7,000
b
P < 0.001
c
6
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
2,000
2
1.0
0.5
400
1,000
200
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0.0
0
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RM
iSIV
SM
HU
P < 0.001
NS
10,000
Microvesicles
RM
SM
Microvesicles
Influenza
(live aichi)
P < 0.001
P < 0.001
NS
1,000
7,500
500
NS
3,500
–1
IFN-α (pg ml )
–1
IFN-α (pg ml )
2,500
250
e
RM
SM
Influenza PR8
(heat-inact.)
SM1
HU
RM
R-848
P < 0.001
3,500
3,000
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2,500
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
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HU
iSIV
P < 0.001
NS
P < 0.001
500
0
Influenza
(live aichi)
P < 0.001
P < 0.001
750
5,000
Microvesicles
iSIV
–1
IFN-α (pg ml )
HU
IFN-α (pg ml –1)
SM
SM mean
4
IFN-α (pg per pDC)
IFN-α (pg ml –1)
IFN-α (pg ml –1)
2,000
0
HU
SM
RM
HSV
(UV-inact.)
HU
SM
RM
CpG C
SM
P < 0.0001
SM2
RM1
Human
RM2
70
f
P = 0.02
Microvesicles
0.066
iSIV
9.73
0.51
0
43.5
6.09
0.23
39.7
Microvesicles
iSIV
0.07
31.1
Percentage IFN-α + cells
60
50
P = 0.004
40
30
20
10
0
9.6
26.1
8.17
21.3
iHIV
30.7
IFN-α
CpG C
Influenza
(live aichi)
0.13
1.52
39.3
30.4
20
49.6
g
38.7
44
IFNα
RM
SM
Microvesicles
6
Fold change in IFN-α1
expression relative to 0 h (log10)
HSV
(UV-inact.)
CD123
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
RM
RM mean
8
4,000
5
RM
SM
RM
iSIV
SM
CpG C
NS
*
RM
SM
Influenza
(live aichi)
SM
RM
**
4
3
2
1
0
–1
iSIV
CpG C
Influenza
(live aichi)
Figure 3 IFN-a production by SM pDCs upon TLR7 or TLR9 ligand and iSIV stimulation is lower than that by RM pDCs. (a) IFN-a production by human, RM
or SM PBMCs stimulated with microvesicle controls or iSIV. (b,c) PBMCs from RMs or SMs were stimulated with live influenza (aichi) or iSIV. IFN-a
production is shown in pg ml–1 (b) and as IFN-a produced per pDC (corrected for the number of pDCs in each animal, as measured by FACS) (c). Error bars
depict group means ± s.e.m. (d) IFN-a production by human, RM or SM PBMCs stimulated with heat-inactivated influenza (PR8), R-848, ultraviolet light
(UV)-inactivated HSV or CpG C2395. (e,f) IFN-a production by pDCs (gated as in Fig. 1b) after stimulation with microvesicle controls, iSIV, iHIV, UVinactivated HSV, CpG C2395, or live influenza (aichi). Two representative SMs, two RMs and one human are shown in e, and a summary graph is shown in f.
(g) IFN-a1 expression assessed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR after stimulation of SM and RM PBMCs with iSIV, CpG C2395 or live influenza (aichi) for
8 h, calculated relative to a housekeeping gene for each individual animal and shown as log10 fold change in expression from the value before stimulation
(0 h). Histograms represent means ± s.e.m. of five sooty mangabeys and three rhesus macaques. *P o 0.05 and **P o 0.01. NS, not significant. In scatter
graphs, points represent individual animals; group means are denoted by a line throughout. All sooty mangabeys and rhesus macaques shown are SIV
negative; all humans shown are HIV negative.
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surveyed produced significantly lower amounts of IFN-a (Fig. 3a).
The diminished IFN-a production in the sooty mangabeys was not
explained by differences in pDC numbers, as correction for the
number of pDCs showed that IFN-a production per sooty mangabey
pDC was also substantially lower than that in rhesus macaques
(Fig. 3b,c). We did not detect differences in the frequency of blood
pDCs or in the expression of CD4 by pDCs, which is known to be
required for SIV- and HIV-induced type I interferon production22,
that could have explained the attenuated type I interferon response of
sooty mangabey PBMCs to SIV (Supplementary Fig. 2 online).
Although a significantly lower fraction of pDCs in sooty mangabeys
expressed CCR5 (Supplementary Fig. 2b), one of the co-receptors for
HIV and SIV, CCR5 has been shown not to be required for HIV
endocytosis and TLR7 and TLR9 signaling in pDCs22,26. The low
IFN-a response by sooty mangabey pDCs was not due to failure of the
IFN-a antibody used to detect sooty mangabey IFN-a, as live
influenza A/aichi stimulation revealed the production of 41,000 pg
ml–1 IFN-a in both rhesus macaques and sooty mangabeys (Fig. 3b,c).
Patterns of IFN-a production by sooty mangabey pDCs
We next investigated whether the in vivo differences in pDC activation
and homing between rhesus macaques and sooty mangabeys were due
to differences in pDC function. To do so, we stimulated PBMCs from
HIV- or SIV-uninfected humans, rhesus macaques and sooty mangabeys with iSIV and measured IFN-a production. Notably, whereas
human and rhesus macaque PBMCs produced large amounts of
IFN-a after iSIV stimulation, PBMCs from the 23 sooty mangabeys
a
RM2
RM1
0
0.51
SM1
0.1
0.97
b
SM2
0
0.7
0.66
Microvesicles
1.21 10.5
10.4
3.29
16.3 33.3
12.9
1.52
0.82
1.58
0.29
14.8
78.9
80.6
63.5
54.1
72.8
0
iSIV
18.8
SM
0.19
0.23
9.67
9.23
IFN-α
Influenza
(live aichi)
0
20.5 52.8
3.32
2.45
0.65 1.07
2.56
CD123
0.17
36.4
RM
Human
0
Microvesicles
CpG C
iSIV
16.7
8.46
14.2
16.2
TNF-α
TNF-α
c
d
NS
e
NS
3,000
4
NS
NS
SM
RM
80
40
2,000
Fold change in IL-12
60
1,000
20
0
0
RM
SM
Microvesicles
RM
SM
RM
iSIV
SM
R-848
expression relative to 0 h (log10)
NS
IL-12 (pg ml–1)
Percentage TNF-α+ cells
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
production upon iSIV, iHIV, live influenza A/aichi and CpG stimulation in pDC-depleted versus unfractionated PBMCs (Fig. 2c). Whereas
the depletion of pDCs reduced the production of IFN-a after stimulation with live influenza A/aichi, a virus that activates multiple innate
signaling pathways including retinoic acid–inducible gene I (RIG-I)
and TLR3 (ref. 25) in addition to TLR7, by only B50%, it resulted in
the near complete abrogation of IFN-a responses to SIV, HIV and CpG
(Fig. 2c). Hence, the majority of IFN-a produced in response to SIV
and HIV upon TLR7 and TLR9 activation is generated by pDCs.
3
2
1
0
iSIV
CpG C
influenza
(live aichi)
Figure 4 The levels of inflammatory cytokine production upon iSIV and TLR7 or TLR9 ligand stimulation of PBMCs in RMs and SMs are similar. (a,b) IFN-a
and TNF-a production (a) or TNF-a production only (b) by pDCs after stimulation with microvesicle controls, iSIV, CpG C2395 or live influenza (aichi).
Representative animals and humans are shown. In all FACS plots, cells were gated on pDCs (HLA-DR+, lineage-negative, CD123+ cells as in Fig. 1b), and
numbers indicate percentage of cells in the gates shown. (c) Percentage pDCs expressing TNF-a in RMs and SMs, as measured by intracellular cytokine
staining after stimulation with microvesicle controls or iSIV. (d) R-848–induced IL-12 production above background (IL-12 production with media alone is
subtracted) by RM or SM PBMCs. In all scatter plots, points represent individual animals; group means are denoted by a line. (e) IL-12 expression, as
assessed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR after stimulation of SM and RM PBMCs with iSIV, CpG C2395 or live influenza (aichi) for 8 h, calculated relative
to a housekeeping gene for each individual animal and shown as log10 fold change in expression from before stimulation (0 h). Histograms represent means
± s.e.m. of three SMs and three RMs. *P o 0.05 and **P o 0.01. NS, not significant. All SMs and RMs shown are SIV negative; all humans shown are
HIV negative.
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Human MALAPERAAPRVLFGEWLLGEISSGCYEGLQWLDEARTCFRVPWKHFARKDLSEADARIFKAWAVARGRWPPSSRGGGPPP-EAETAERAGWKTNFRCALRSTRRFVMLRDNSGDPADPHKVYALSRELCWREGPGTDQT
RM
.............................................................................D...P...A........................................P..G..........
SM
.............................................................................D...P...A........................................P..G..........
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Human EAEAPAAVPPPQGGPPGPFLAHTHAGLQAPGPLPAPAGDKGDLLLQAVQQSCLADHLLTASWGADPVPTKAPGEGQEGLPLTGACAGGPGLPAGELYGWAVETTPSPGPQPAALTTGEAAAPESPHQAEPYLSPSPSACT
RM
...G....R....R........RD........F...................................AQ..........................CT....A........T..M....T...P........A.......
SM
........R....R........RDG.........................G...........A.....AQ..........................CT....A........V..MA...T...P...V....A.......
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
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....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|....|
Human AVQEPSPGALDVTIMYKGRTVLQKVVGHPSCTFLYGPPDPAVRATDPQQVAFPSPAELPDQKQLRYTEELLRHVAPGLHLELRGPQLWARRMGKCKVYWEVGGPPGSASPSTPACLLPRNCDTPIFDFRVFFQELVEFRA
RM
V..............................M..............................................Q.............................................................
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Human RQRRGSPRYTIYLGFGQDLSAGRPKEKSLVLVKLEPWLCRVHLEGTQREGVSSLDSSSLSLCLSSANSLYDDIECFLMELEQPA
RM
.......C.............R...........................................T.........L.......V
SM
.......C.............R...........................................T.........L.......V
DNA-binding domain
Transactivation domain
Autoinhibitory domain
Phosphorylation domain
IRF phosphorylation motif
Figure 5 Multiple SM-specific amino-acid substitutions are present in the transactivation domain of IRF-7. Amino-acid translation of SM and RM IRF-7
mRNA sequence. Open reading frames are aligned with the human IRF-7 transcript variant A (accession number NM_001572). IRF-7 functional domains are
annotated in color as previously defined38, and SM-specific substitutions within these domains are highlighted in white. Gaps are indicated with dashes, and
identity with the human sequence is indicated with a period.
To determine whether the reduced IFN-a production capacity of sooty
mangabey PBMCs is also seen after exposure to prototypic TLR7 and
TLR9 ligands, we stimulated PBMCs from SIV- and HIV-uninfected
humans, rhesus macaques and sooty mangabeys with the TLR7 ligands
R-848 and heat-inactivated influenza A/PR8 and with TLR9 ligands
CpG and ultraviolet light–inactivated herpes simplex virus (HSV).
Whereas human and rhesus macaque PBMCs produced similar
amounts of IFN-a upon stimulation, sooty mangabey PBMCs made
only very limited amounts of IFN-a, regardless of the TLR7 or TLR9
ligand used, suggesting that sooty mangabey PBMCs have a reduced
capacity to produce IFN-a that is associated with altered TLR7 and
TLR9 signaling (Fig. 3d). Marked attenuation of IFN-a production
after exposure of sooty mangabey PBMCs to TLR7 and TLR9 agonists
is highly reproducible and has been observed in all (430) sooty
mangabeys surveyed to date. Intracellular staining confirmed that there
were substantially fewer IFN-a–producing sooty mangabey pDCs upon
SIV, TLR7 or TLR9 ligand stimulation compared to rhesus macaque
and human pDCs (Fig. 3e,f). Stimulation with live influenza A/aichi
showed that the antibody used was able to detect sooty mangabey
IFN-a, although there was a significantly lower proportion of IFN-a+
pDCs in sooty mangabeys, perhaps owing to the contribution of TLR7
and TLR9 signaling to the production of type I interferon in response
to this virus (Fig. 2c and Fig. 3f).
At the peak of IFN-a mRNA induction in rhesus macaques, 8 h
after stimulation, there was also a significant difference between rhesus
macaques and sooty mangabeys in SIV- and CpG-induced IFN-a
mRNA production, but not in live influenza A/aichi-induced IFN-a
mRNA production (Fig. 3g). The difference between rhesus macaque
and sooty mangabey IFN-a transcription was most striking after
stimulation with CpG, which signals solely through TLR9, similar to
what we observed at the protein level (Fig. 3g). Whereas there was
some upregulation in IFN-a RNA transcription in sooty mangabeys
upon stimulation with iSIV (perhaps accounting for the small amount
of type I interferon detected at the protein level in sooty mangabeys),
it peaked by 4 h after stimulation and then rapidly declined (Supplementary Fig. 3 online).
Intact NF-jB–dependent signaling in sooty mangabey pDCs
After TLR7 or TLR9 ligand engagement, the downstream signaling
pathway bifurcates, leading on the one hand to robust IFN-a
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production via a pathway that requires interferon-regulatory factor-7
(IRF-7) and on the other to the production of proinflammatory
cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) and interleukin-12
(IL-12) via a nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB)-dependent pathway27–29. To
further characterize the difference in TLR7 and TLR9 signaling
between sooty mangabey pDCs and rhesus macaque and human
pDCs and to assess whether the TLRs themselves or downstream
signaling pathways are responsible for the reduced IFN-a production
in sooty mangabeys, we examined whether sooty mangabey PBMCs
were able to produce proinflammatory cytokines in response to TLR7
and TLR9 signaling. After SIV or CpG stimulation, we observed a
similar fraction of TNF-a+ pDCs in both rhesus macaques and sooty
mangabeys, despite the fact that sooty mangabey pDCs did not
produce IFN-a (Fig. 4a–c). Furthermore, after stimulation of sooty
mangabey and rhesus macaque PBMCs with R-848, similar amounts
of IL-12 could be detected by ELISA and also by quantitative PCR
for IL-12 mRNA in both species (Fig. 4d,e). These data indicate that
the pathways involved in SIV, single-stranded RNA and CpG recognition are intact in sooty mangabeys in terms of ligand binding,
proximal TLR signaling, NF-kB activation and proinflammatory
cytokine production.
Consistent with the apparent impairment of the IRF-7 signaling
pathway leading to IFN-a production in sooty mangabeys, we
observed very little induction of IFN-b after CpG stimulation in
sooty mangabeys (Supplementary Fig. 3c). This difference in IFN-b
expression, although less pronounced, is also seen upon stimulation
with iSIV (Supplementary Fig. 3c). Notably, IRF-7 mRNA, itself
induced via an NF-kB–dependent pathway, is expressed at similar
levels in sooty mangabeys and rhesus macaques upon TLR7 or TLR9
stimulation by iSIV, live influenza A/aichi or CpG (Supplementary
Fig. 3d), suggesting that IRF-7 induction, although perhaps not its
function, is intact.
Genetic polymorphisms in TLR7 and TLR9 signaling pathways
Seeking to identify specific genetic polymorphisms that may be
responsible for the altered TLR7 and TLR9 signaling phenotype in
sooty mangabeys, we sequenced genes encoding proteins involved in
TLR7 and TLR9 signaling from sooty mangabeys and rhesus
macaques and compared them with human sequences (Supplementary Table 1 online). Most of these genes were highly conserved
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SM
1.5
RM
**
*
*
**
*
0.5
*
*
**
*
**
*
1.0
**
Fold change in expression
relative to uninfected controls (log10)
© 2008 Nature Publishing Group http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
Human
0.0
–0.5
IFN-α1
IFN-α2
IL-6
MX-1
IP-10
TNF-α
IL-12
Figure 6 Elevations in IFN-a and type I interferon responses occur in
chronically SIV-infected RMs and HIV-infected humans, but not in SIVinfected SMs. IFN-a1, IFN-a2, IL-6, MX-1, IP-10, TNF-a and IL-12
expression in SIV+ SMs, SIV+ RMs and HIV+ humans, as assessed by realtime quantitative RT-PCR, calculated relative to a housekeeping gene for
each individual and shown as log10 fold change in expression compared to
uninfected SMs, RMs and humans, respectively. Histograms represent
means ± s.e.m. of six SMs, eight RMs and twelve humans. P values
indicate comparisons of SM gene expression to that of humans and RMs.
*P o 0.05, **P o 0.01 and ***P o 0.001.
between all three species. Given that there was no difference in the
production of proinflammatory cytokines after TLR7 or TLR9 stimulation between sooty mangabeys and rhesus macaques, it is not
surprising that there were few amino acid changes in TLR7, TLR9
and MyD88 (an adaptor protein required for TLR7 and TLR9
signaling) between sooty mangabeys and rhesus macaques (Supplementary Fig. 4 online). In fact, TLR7 and TLR9 were the most
conserved of the ten TLRs sequenced (Supplementary Table 1).
However, IRF-7 had a number of sooty mangabey–specific amino
acid substitutions within its transactivation domain (Fig. 5).
To determine whether transcription factor binding motifs involved
in the regulation of interferon mRNA production were altered in sooty
mangabeys, we sequenced the promoters and open reading frames of
IFN-a1 and IFN-a2, as well as of IFN-b1, which are the interferon
subtypes most highly induced by viral infection or TLR stimulation
(Supplementary Fig. 4). Except for one polymorphism found in
the IFN-a1 promoter in some sooty mangabeys, interferon promoters
and coding regions were identical between rhesus macaques and sooty
mangabeys. Hence, on the basis of the relative degree and character of
IRF-7 sequence polymorphisms and of its functional role in the IFN-a
response, IRF-7 is the most probable candidate responsible for the
observed reduction in sooty mangabey IFN-a production after TLR7
and TLR9 stimulation.
Type I interferon signatures and AIDS susceptibility
To assess the in vivo consequences of the distinctive patterns of TLR7
and TLR9 signaling and IFN-a production in sooty mangabey, rhesus
macaque and human pDCs, we examined the IFN-a and type I
interferon response gene expression profiles in infected and uninfected
sooty mangabeys, rhesus macaques and humans by quantitative
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real-time PCR. We quantified the expression of mRNAs encoding
IFN-a1 and IFN-a2, the interferon response proteins MX-1, IL-6 and
IP-10, and TNF-a and IL-12 in uninfected sooty mangabeys, SIV+
sooty mangabeys, uninfected rhesus macaques, SIV+ rhesus macaques,
uninfected humans and HIV+ humans (CD4 counts and SIV or HIV
viral loads are shown in Supplementary Table 2 online). Whereas
these mRNAs were upregulated by 1.3–18-fold in SIV+ rhesus macaques and HIV+ humans compared to uninfected controls, they were
expressed at similar (or lower) levels in infected compared to uninfected sooty mangabeys (Fig. 6). Thus, the reduced capacity of sooty
mangabey pDCs to produce IFN-a upon ex vivo stimulation with
SIV translates to a profound absence in chronically SIV-infected sooty
mangabeys of the characteristic type I interferon gene expression
profile observed in pathogenic SIV or HIV infections of rhesus
macaques or humans.
DISCUSSION
Pathogenic HIV or SIV infection has numerous effects on the host
immune system, including the induction of increased turnover,
apoptosis and dysfunction of NK, B and T cells1,2,4,5—all of which
are probably the consequence of the prevailing environment of
chronic immune activation. Determining how sooty mangabeys and
other natural hosts avoid chronic immune activation could provide
insight into the pathogenic mechanisms responsible for AIDS progression in non-natural hosts13,14.
Here we describe key differences in the maturation and trafficking
of pDCs in sooty mangabeys after infection with SIV that are
associated with their reduced IFN-a production after TLR7 or TLR9
stimulation. The markedly attenuated production of IFN-a by sooty
mangabey pDCs after SIV engagement of TLR7 and TLR9 may not
only result in the generation of very limited innate and adaptive
antiviral cellular immune responses during acute SIV infection, but
also enable sooty mangabeys to avoid generalized immune activation
during chronic infection. We propose a model of AIDS pathogenesis
in non-natural hosts wherein the failure of adaptive immune
responses to durably control virus replication permits ongoing innate
immune system stimulation by the substantial amounts of both
infectious and noninfectious virions produced each day in infected
hosts30. This vicious cycle of continuous virus replication, innate
immune stimulation and multifactorial immunopathology may represent the primary force driving AIDS progression in pathogenic HIV
and SIV infections.
Our study identified the lack of pDC maturation and lymphoid
tissue homing as an early point of divergence in the natural sooty
mangabey host response to SIV infection. Furthermore, we showed
that NK cells, another key innate effector population, do not proliferate
in sooty mangabeys during acute SIV infection, in sharp contrast to
NK cell expansions seen in acutely HIV-infected humans5 or SIVinfected rhesus macaques (this study and ref. 31). The diminished NK
cell proliferation in acutely SIV-infected sooty mangabeys probably
stems from the absence of activated DCs and DC-elaborated cytokines
to signal NK cell proliferation32. Given the importance of reciprocal
interactions between NK cells and DCs in achieving full functioning of
both cell types, as well as the importance of these interactions in
generating cellular immune responses32, it is likely that the reduced NK
cell proliferation in infected sooty mangabeys not only reinforces the
continued absence of DC activation despite considerable viremia, but
also affects the magnitude and nature of the antiviral cellular immune
responses that are generated33,34.
Plasmacytoid DCs have a central role in activating both innate and
adaptive responses, as evidenced by pDC activation leading to the
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direct or indirect activation of many cell types, including monocytes,
mDCs, B cells, NK cells and T cells17,35,36. IFN-a, produced primarily
from pDCs, in addition to having direct antiviral activity, provides an
important signal for T helper precursor differentiation in favor of a T
helper type 1 immune response18. The pDC-induced maturation of
mDCs then enables efficient antigen presentation and stimulation of
naive T cells, and IFN-a itself can directly amplify CD8+ T cell
expansion after viral infections19.
Although sooty mangabey pDCs produce less IFN-a upon in vitro
stimulation with SIV or TLR7 and TLR9 ligands, they do produce
proinflammatory cytokines known to result from a distinct downstream signaling pathway involving NF-kB, which is also activated
after TLR engagement29. These results, together with the conserved
TLR7 and TLR9 sequences in sooty mangabeys, indicate that the
muted type I interferon response does not result from an inability of
the initial upstream receptors to detect SIV or other TLR7 and TLR9
ligands, but rather from divergent propagation of activation signals
along signaling pathways downstream of receptor binding. A potential
molecular mediator that is crucial for type I interferon production
and that might be involved in this divergent response is IRF-7.
Indeed, after stimulation of sooty mangabey pDCs with CpG DNA
(known to signal solely through TLR9 (ref. 37)), near-absent IFN-a
and IFN-b production in concert with preserved production of other
NF-kB–regulated proinflammatory cytokines greatly resembles the
phenotype observed in Irf7 –/– mice27. Furthermore, reminiscent of
the sooty mangabey response to SIV, Irf7 –/– mice show marked
impairment in the generation of CD8+ T cell responses to antigens
whose immunogenicity depends on IRF-7–dependent TLR signaling27. We have found that, unlike other proteins involved in TLR7 and
TLR9 signaling that are highly conserved between sooty mangabeys,
rhesus macaques and humans, the IRF-7 gene sequence contains
numerous sooty mangabey–specific amino acid substitutions. The
majority of these changes in IRF-7 are located in the transactivation
domain, which recruits other transcriptional coactivators to the IFN-a
and IFN-b promoters38,39. Although these amino acid changes are
relatively conservative in nature, the cumulative effect of the substitutions might impede the phosphorylation or nuclear translocation of
IRF-7 or compromise its stability40 or ability to engage transcriptional
co-activators—thus limiting type I interferon production after TLR7
and TLR9 stimulation in sooty mangabeys. Additional analyses will be
needed to evaluate the role of IRF-7 in the specific pattern of type I
interferon production by sooty mangabey pDCs.
The preserved ability of sooty mangabey pDCs to produce TNF-a
and IL-12 after TLR7 and TLR9 stimulation, along with apparent
redundancies in innate responses inferred from humans with rare
inherited polymorphisms leading to impaired TLR signaling, who
show discrete rather than generalized susceptibility to specific infections41, may explain why sooty mangabeys are able to mount effective
immune responses to most potential pathogens and remain healthy in
the wild, despite a reduced ability to express IFN-a in response to
engagement of TLR7 and TLR9 by specific agonists. Furthermore, we
can infer that because the signaling pathway leading to IL-12 and
TNF-a production in response to TLR7 and TLR9 stimulation in
sooty mangabeys is intact, neither of these cytokines by itself is
responsible for the chronic activation of the immune system seen
during SIV or HIV infection. However, the reduced type I interferon
response in sooty mangabeys might also promote a more complicated
phenotype where potentially damaging innate and adaptive immune
responses to SIV are also actively downmodulated.
Although TLR recognition of viral components and DC activation
is crucial for antiviral immunity, TLR stimulation has also been
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reported to directly contribute to deleterious inflammatory responses.
In mouse models, high levels of IFN-a result in bone marrow
suppression, reduced thymic cellularity and thymocyte proliferation,
thereby inhibiting B and T lymphopoiesis42,43. In addition, ongoing
specific TLR9 stimulation by chronic administration of CpG has been
shown to damage the microarchitecture and function of lymphoid
organs via IFN-a production44. Of note, mice deficient in TLR3 have
paradoxically attenuated disease, diminished pathologic inflammatory
responses and improved survival after infection with West Nile virus,
phlebo virus or influenza A virus, despite having equivalent or greater
levels of virus replication than those seen in wild-type controls45–47.
HIV-induced type I interferon production by human pDCs can
enhance the activation-induced death of primary CD4+ T cells via
tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)- or
Fas-mediated pathways, suggesting a direct mechanism for the
increased CD4+ T cell apoptosis observed in HIV-infected individuals48,49. The association between a type I interferon gene expression
signature indicative of persistent and ongoing IFN-a production
in vivo during pathogenic AIDS virus infections has been
reported50–53, consistent with our demonstration of increased IFN-a
and type I interferon response mRNA expression in HIV-infected
humans and SIV-infected rhesus macaques. Of note, we show here
that chronically SIV-infected sooty mangabeys do not show upregulation of type I interferon response mRNAs. Taken together, these data
suggest that ongoing pDC activation and IFN-a production may lead
to both the accelerated destruction and the impaired regeneration of
CD4+ T cells, as well as dysregulation of cellular and humoral immune
responses in pathogenic SIV and HIV infections.
Other studies have posited that the early and severe depletion of
mucosal CD4+ T cells in pathogenic AIDS virus infections underlies
immune activation and disease progression in non-natural hosts54.
According to this model, damage to gut-associated lymphoid tissue by
HIV infection and depletion of resident CD4+ T cells leads to the
compromise of gut mucosal integrity and the influx of microbial
components that themselves activate the immune system54. The
positive correlation between plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) abundance and the extent of immune activation in HIV-infected people, as
well as the lower amounts of LPS in plasma of SIV-infected sooty
mangabeys has been cited as evidence supporting this hypothesis54.
However, it is difficult to reconcile this hypothesis with the observation that the same magnitude of mucosal CD4+ T cell depletion occurs
in nonpathogenic infections of sooty mangabeys and African green
monkeys as is observed in rhesus macaques and humans10,55. In the
absence of aberrant immune activation in these natural hosts, the
depletion of CD4+ T cells in gut-associated lymphoid tissues is not
sufficient to compromise the gut epithelium and points to the primary
role of immune activation in this process. Although LPS translocation
might potentially augment immune activation in pathogenic AIDS
virus infections, it is not likely to be the primary cause of it. An
alternative hypothesis consistent with the observed correlation
between LPS translocation, immune activation and disease susceptibility is that active virus replication in gut mucosal tissues, along
with the recruitment and chronic in situ activation of pDCs, precipitates inflammatory damage to mucosal epithelial surfaces, enabling
LPS and other microbial products in the gut lumen to traverse
the normally impermeable mucosal barrier and gain access to
the bloodstream.
CD4+ T cell–tropic lentiviruses may be uniquely associated with
chronic generalized immune activation during infections of nonnatural hosts not only because they establish persistent infections
that cannot be cleared by host adaptive immune responses, but also
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because they preferentially target cells that express cell surface CD4.
Although conventional models of AIDS pathogenesis have highlighted
direct infection of CD4+ T cells as the primary event driving disease
progression, efficient binding to and activation of pDCs by HIV as a
result of their expression of CD4 may be an additional key determinant. Through facilitated binding to CD4, efficient endocytosis and
TLR7 and TLR9 signaling, HIV and SIV engender ongoing pDC
activation and type I interferon production. In comparison to HIV,
hepatitis C virus also causes chronic high-level viremia in humans
but does not target or stimulate pDCs56. As a result, among
virus infections of humans, HIV may be uniquely able to result
in the chronic activation of multiple distinct branches of the
immune system.
On the basis of the model of HIV pathogenesis that we propose,
there are a number of immunomodulatory interventions that might
ameliorate pathologic immune activation in non-natural hosts for SIV
and HIV. These include interventions that interrupt virus binding to
CD4 on pDCs (using antibodies to CD4 or CD4-immunoglobulin
immunoadhesins) or that diminish the elicitation of type I interferon
production by pDCs. Potential approaches to limit virus-activated
IFN-a production include the use of TLR-targeted antagonists to
mitigate signaling after HIV-1 engagement of TLR7 and TLR9 (ref. 24)
or pharmacological interference with endososomal acidification
and signaling by TLR7 and TLR9 (for example, using chloroquine)21.
Each of these approaches would broadly, and potentially undesirably,
affect all TLR7- and TLR9-mediated pDC responses, including inhibition of production of IFN-a, TNF-a and IL-12 by pDCs. Pharmacological interference with IRF-7 might, if feasible, confer
greater specificity. Alternatively, inhibition of the deleterious consequences of chronic IFN-a production by pDCs after HIV-1 infection
might be accomplished by administration of antibodies capable of
neutralizing IFN-a (ref. 57). Such unique immunomodulatory strategies, used in conjunction with antiretroviral drugs, may be of
particular value in individuals who experience impaired recovery
of CD4+ T cells despite effective antiretroviral suppression of
virus replication.
To our knowledge, this work represents the first description of a
naturally occurring, species-wide polymorphism in TLR signaling that
has major effects on innate immune function and a substantial impact
on host responses and disease susceptibility to a prevalent pathogen. If
host immune responses are fundamentally unable to durably control
HIV or SIV replication, and chronic viremia drives pathological innate
immune activation, then selection for decreased innate immune
responses may represent an effective adaptive evolutionary response
to avoid susceptibility to immunodeficiency disease. Understanding
the commonalities between sooty mangabeys and other natural hosts
for nonpathogenic SIV infections may enable us to anticipate the
future evolutionary trajectory of human populations in response to
the profound selective pressures imposed by the AIDS pandemic.
Likewise, identification of genetic polymorphisms associated with
variable thresholds for activation of innate immune responses may
illuminate host factors contributing to the heretofore unexplained
diversity in disease courses observed in HIV infected humans58.
METHODS
Human subjects. We obtained blood samples from HIV+ or HIV– humans after
they had provided written informed consent. Inclusion criteria for HIVinfected humans were viral loads of 41 103 RNA copies ml–1, CD4 counts
of 4120 cells ml–1, no active opportunistic infections and antiretroviral-naive
or off antiretroviral treatment for 41.5 years (Supplementary Table 2).
Protocols were approved by the Emory University Institutional Review Board.
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Animals. We sampled 30 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta, Indian genetic
background) and 26 sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) and housed them at the
Yerkes National Primate Research Center. All animals were SIV negative, with
the exception of the six animals experimentally infected with SIVsm as
described below, as well as six naturally SIV-infected sooty mangabeys and
eight SIVmac239-infected rhesus macaques cross-sectionally sampled for gene
expression analyses. We performed SIVmac239 infections at least one year
before sampling, as previously described59. In comparative sooty mangabey and
rhesus macaque studies, animals were age- and sex-matched wherever possible.
Animal housing, care and research was in accordance with the Guide for the
Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and all studies were approved by the
Emory University Institutional Animal Use and Care Committee.
Uncloned SIVsm stock. We intravenously inoculated 1 ml of plasma from a
naturally SIV-infected sooty mangabey into an uninfected sooty mangabey. We
stored plasma from blood drawn at the peak of viremia (day 11) at –80 1C.
SIV infections. We intravenously inoculated three rhesus macaques and three
sooty mangabeys with 0.5 ml SIVsm stock (5 106 SIV RNA copies). We
measured immunological and virological parameters on day –14, day 0, day 2,
day 4, day 7, day 10, day 14, day 21 and day 28. We took lymph node biopsies
on day –14 and on day 10 or day 14 of SIV infection as previously described11.
SIVsm viral loads. We quantified SIVsm viral loads as previously described12.
Immunophenotyping. We stained cells as previously described33 with monoclonal antibodies to the following proteins (antibody names in parentheses):
CD3 (SP34-2), CD4 (L-200), CD8 (SK1), CD11c (S-HCL-3), CD20 (L27),
CD123 (73G), CCR5 (3A9) and HLA-DR (L243), all from BD; CD14 (My4)
and CD16 (2H4) from Coulter; and CCR7 from R&D Systems. We acquired at
least 100,000 gated events for lymphocytes or 700,000 total events for DCs on a
FACSCalibur or LSRII flow cytometer (BD). We performed analyses with
FlowJo (Treestar).
Electron microscopy. To mobilize DCs in sooty mangabeys in vivo, we
administered 100 mg kg–1 Flt3L-IgG2 (R.C. and M.B.F., unpublished data)
subcutaneously for 5 d. We isolated PBMCs on day 8 after treatment and
enriched for DCs by depleting CD20+ and CD3+ cells on a MACS LD column
(Miltenyi). We then stained the cells with antibodies to CD14, HLA-DR,
CD123 and CD11c (BD) and sorted them with a FACSARIA (BD). We fixed
sorted pDCs and mDCs with 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M cocadylate buffer,
post-fixed them with buffered 1% osmium tetroxide for 1 h, dehydrated them
in a graded ethanol series to 100%, embedded them in low-viscosity epoxy
resin and hardened them at 60 1C. We thin-sectioned the resin blocks at 60–70
nm, stained them with uranyl acetate and lead citrate and examined them on a
Hitachi H7500 transmission electron microscope.
Ex vivo peripheral blood mononuclear cell stimulation. We stimulated
PBMCs in complete RPMI (Invitrogen) at 400,000 cells per well in duplicate
wells with 1 mM R-848 (3M Pharmaceuticals), 6 mg ml–1 CpG C2395 or CpG
A2336 (Coley Pharmaceuticals), multiplicity of infection (MOI) 0.25 ultraviolet
light–inactivated HSV (described in ref. 24), 1 105 hemagglutination (HA)
units ml–1 live influenza virus A/aichi H3N2 (Charles River Laboratories),
MOI 2.0 heat-inactivated (56 1C for 30 min) influenza virus A/PR/8 H1N1
(American Type Culture Collection) or 500 ng ml–1 (total protein) aldrithiol2–inactivated SIVmac239, aldrithiol-2–inactivated HIV-1ADA or SUPT1
cell–derived microvesicles as a control (the latter three were a gift, see
Acknowledgments) for 17 h at 37 1C. Briefly, the aldrithiol-2 treatment of
SIV and HIV particles (described in ref. 60) covalently modifies thiol groups in
internal viral proteins, rendering the particles noninfectious while leaving
envelope glycoproteins intact. For some stimulations, we added inhibitors of
TLR7, TLR9 or both: 5.6 mM IRS954, IRS661, IRS869 or oligodeoxynucleotide
control (Dynavax Technologies), 2 mM DV056 (Dynavax Technologies), or 20
mM or 5 mM chloroquine (Sigma). After stimulation, we harvested supernatants
for cytokine detection with the Human Interferon Alpha Multi-Subtype ELISA
Kit (PBL Biomedical Laboratories) or IL-12 p70 ELISA Kit MK (BioSource).
All kits were cross-reactive for rhesus macaques, sooty mangabeys and humans.
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Ex vivo pDC depletions. We magnetically labeled PBMCs with a BDCA-4
microbead kit (Miltenyi) and depleted them of B90% of pDCs by passing
them three times through an autoMACS separator (Miltenyi).
Intracellular cytokine detection. We stimulated 4 106 PBMCs with 1 105
HA units ml–1 live influenza virus A/aichi H3N2, 1 mg ml–1 iSIV, iHIV or
microvesicles, MOI 0.25 ultraviolet light–inactivated HSV or 24 mg ml–1 CpG
C2395 for 8 h at 37 1C. We added 5 mg ml–1 brefeldin-A (Sigma) and continued
the incubation for 4 h. We fixed cells in 2% paraformaldehyde for 5 min, washed
them and permeabilized them overnight in PBS containing saponin (2 g l–1),
0.08% BSA, 10 mM HEPES, 1 mM CaCl2, 0.2 mM MgSO4 and 5% nonfat milk
(PBS-S-M) at 4 1C. We stained cells in fresh PBS-S-M containing monoclonal
antibodies to CD3, CD20, CD14, HLA-DR, CD123, TNF-a (MAB11, BD) and
IFN-a (225.C, Chromaprobe). We acquired at least 1 106 total events on a
LSRII flow cytometer.
Gene expression analysis. For mRNA expression analyses after TLR stimulation, we first stimulated PBMCs as for intracellular cytokine detection. Before
adding stimulant (0 h) and 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h and 16 h after stimulation, we lysed
cells in RLT buffer (Qiagen). For mRNA expression analyses of uninfected or
chronically SIV- or HIV-infected humans, rhesus macaques or sooty mangabeys, we isolated PBMCs, washed them and lysed them. We extracted RNA was
extracted with RNeasy kits (Qiagen) and reverse-transcribed the RNA with a
High-Capacity cDNA Archive Kit (Applied Biosystems). We carried out the
relative quantitative real-time PCRs for nine selected genes (Supplementary
Table 3 online) following TaqMan Applied Biosystems protocols. We tested
samples in duplicate in parallel with the housekeeping gene GUSB. We
validated assays for rhesus macaques and sooty mangabeys where appropriate.
We used StatMiner software (Integromics) to perform quality controls for all
runs and relative quantification DDCt analyses to calculate the fold differences
between samples.
Gene sequencing. See Supplementary Methods online for a more detailed
description. Briefly, we reverse-transcribed cellular RNA extracted from HIVor SIV-negative human, rhesus macaque or sooty mangabey PBMCs with
either Powerscript (Clontech) or Superscript II (Invitrogen) and an oligo-dT
primer. We amplified the gene regions coding for IFN-a1, IFN-a2 and IFN-b1
with the Takara LA kit (Chemicon International) from genomic DNA extracted
from sooty mangabey and rhesus macaque PBMCs with the QIAamp DNA
MiniKit (Qiagen). We designed PCR primers with available human or nonhuman primate sequences. After gel purification and TOPO-cloning (Invitrogen),
we sequenced multiple independent clones from each PCR reaction (Lark
Technologies) to identify potential PCR-induced mutations.
Statistical analyses. We analyzed data by t-tests, Mann-Whitney tests (for
nonparametric data) or, in cases where more than one group was compared, by
Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (GraphPad Prism). A P value below 0.05
was considered significant for all analyses.
Accession codes. Sooty mangabey and rhesus macaque gene sequences encoding the proteins studied are deposited in GenBank with the following accession
codes (SM; RM): IKK-a (EU204926; EU204927), IRAK1 (EU204925;
EU204924), IRAK4 (EU204923; EU204922), IRF2 (EU204920; EU204921),
IRF3 (EU204918; EU204919), IRF7 (EU204916; EU204917), MyD88
(EU204915; EU204914), TRAF6 (EU204928; EU204929), TLR1 (EU204931;
EU204930), TLR2 (EU204932; EU204933), TLR3 (EU204935; EU204934),
TLR4 (EU204937; EU204936), TLR5 (EU204938; EU204939), TLR6
(EU204940; EU204941), TLR7 (EU204942; EU204943), TLR8 (EU204945;
EU204944), TLR9 (EU204946; EU204947). For details, see Supplementary
Table 1 and Supplementary Figure 4.
Note: Supplementary information is available on the Nature Medicine website.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank B. Weaver, J. Skvarich, B. O’Hara and
M. Mulligan for their help coordinating blood draws from HIV-infected humans,
S. Ehnert and E. Strobert for their care of the study animals, B. Lawson and
D. Lee for performing the SIVsm and SIVmac239 viral load assays, J. Ingersoll
for performing the HIV viral load assays, A. McCrary for assistance with cloning
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and sequencing, K. Dalbey for help with running ELISAs, H. Yi for help with
electron microscopy, J. Bess and J. Lifson at the US National Cancer Institute
for providing the aldrithiol-2–inactivated SIV and HIV strains and microvesicle
controls, 3M Pharmaceuticals for providing the R-848 and anonymous human
volunteers for providing blood samples for these studies. We would also like to
thank G. Silvestri for his input. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the US
National Institutes of Health grants R01 HL075766 and R01 AI049155, the Yerkes
National Primate Research Center Grant RR000165 and the Emory Center for
AIDS Research Grant P30-AI-50409. The authors apologize for not citing all
relevant publications due to space limitations.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
J.N.M., A.P.B. and M.B.F. designed the experiments, and J.N.M. and A.P.B.
conducted most of them. T.H.V. sequenced genes involved in the TLR signaling
pathway under the supervision of S.I.S., N.K. performed gene expression analyses,
R.C. and S.K. developed assays and reagents that paved the way for this work,
F.J.B. and R.L.C. provided the TLR antagonists and contributed to planning
inhibition experiments, and M.B.F. supervised the overall project. J.N.M., A.P.B.
and M.B.F. analyzed the data and J.N.M. and M.B.F. wrote the manuscript.
COMPETING INTERESTS STATEMENT
The authors declare competing financial interests: details accompany the full-text
HTML version of the paper at http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine/.
Published online at http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine/
Reprints and permissions information is available online at http://npg.nature.com/
reprintsandpermissions/
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