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A Functionally Distinct CXCR3 + /IFN-γ + /IL-10 + Subset Defines Disease-Suppressive Myelin-Specific CD8 T Cells
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A Functionally Distinct CXCR3 + /IFN-γ + /IL-10 + Subset Defines Disease-Suppressive Myelin-Specific CD8 T Cells

Ashley A Brate, Alexander W Boyden, Isaac J Jensen, Vladimir P Badovinac and Nitin J Karandikar
The Journal of immunology (1950), Vol.206(6), pp.1151-1160
03/15/2021
DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.2001143
PMCID: PMC8059448
PMID: 33558376

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Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated demyelinating disease of the CNS. We have previously demonstrated that CNS-specific CD8 T cells possess a disease-suppressive function in MS and variations of its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), including the highly clinically relevant relapsing-remitting EAE disease course. Regulatory CD8 T cell subsets have been identified in EAE and other autoimmune diseases, but studies vary in defining phenotypic properties of these cells. In relapsing-remitting EAE, PLP CD8 T cells suppress disease, whereas PLP CD8 T cells lack this function. In this study, we used this model to delineate the unique phenotypic properties of CNS-specific regulatory PLP CD8 T cells versus nonregulatory PLP or OVA CD8 T cells. Using multiparametric flow cytometric analyses of phenotypic marker expression, we identified a CXCR3 subpopulation among activated regulatory CD8 T cells, relative to nonregulatory counterparts. This subset exhibited increased degranulation and IFN-γ and IL-10 coproduction. A similar subset was also identified in C57BL/6 mice within autoregulatory PLP CD8 T cells but not within nonregulatory OVA CD8 T cells. This disease-suppressing CD8 T cell subpopulation provides better insights into functional regulatory mechanisms, and targeted enhancement of this subset could represent a novel immunotherapeutic approach for MS.

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