[en] Infection with parasitic helminths can imprint the immune system to modulate bystander inflammatory processes. Bystander or virtual memory CD8+ T cells (TVM) are non-conventional T cells displaying memory properties that can be generated through responsiveness to interleukin (IL)-4. However, it is not clear if helminth-induced type 2 immunity functionally affects the TVM compartment. Here, we show that helminths expand CD44hiCD62LhiCXCR3hiCD49dlo TVM cells through direct IL-4 signaling in CD8+ T cells. Importantly, helminth-mediated conditioning of TVM cells provided enhanced control of acute respiratory infection with the murid gammaherpesvirus 4 (MuHV-4). This enhanced control of MuHV-4 infection could further be explained by an increase in antigen-specific CD8+ T cell effector responses in the lung and was directly dependent on IL-4 signaling. These results demonstrate that IL-4 during helminth infection can non-specifically condition CD8+ T cells, leading to a subsequently raised antigen-specific CD8+ T cell activation that enhanced control of viral infection.
Disciplines :
Immunology & infectious disease
Author, co-author :
Rolot, Marion
Dougall, Annette
Chetty, Alisha
Javaux, Justine
Chen, Ting
Xiao, Xue
Machiels, Bénédicte ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des maladies infectieuses et parasitaires (DMI) > Vaccinologie vétérinaire