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Programmed death-1–induced interleukin-10 production by monocytes impairs CD4+ T cell activation during HIV infection

Abstract

Viral replication and microbial translocation from the gut to the blood during HIV infection lead to hyperimmune activation, which contributes to the decline in CD4+ T cell numbers during HIV infection. Programmed death-1 (PD-1) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) are both upregulated during HIV infection. Blocking interactions between PD-1 and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and between IL-10 and IL-10 receptor (IL-10R) results in viral clearance and improves T cell function in animal models of chronic viral infections. Here we show that high amounts of microbial products and inflammatory cytokines in the plasma of HIV-infected subjects lead to upregulation of PD-1 expression on monocytes that correlates with high plasma concentrations of IL-10. Triggering of PD-1 expressed on monocytes by PD-L1 expressed on various cell types induced IL-10 production and led to reversible CD4+ T cell dysfunction. We describe a new function for PD-1 whereby microbial products inhibit T cell expansion and function by upregulating PD-1 levels and IL-10 production by monocytes after binding of PD-1 by PD-L1.

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Figure 1: PD-1 expression is upregulated in CD16 and CD16+ monocyte subsets during HIV infection.
Figure 2: PD-1 expression in monocytes is upregulated by TLR ligands of bacterial origin and inflammatory cytokines and correlate with IL-10 concentrations in the blood of viremic subjects.
Figure 3: Specific PD-1 triggering induces IL-10 production by monocytes.
Figure 4: IL-10 production by monocytes from viremic subjects is specifically induced by PD-1–PD-L1 interaction.
Figure 5: IL-10 production induced by PD-1 triggering on monocytes inhibits CD4+ T cell proliferation and cytokine production.
Figure 6: Phosphorylation of STAT-3 by IL-10 produced by PD-1–triggered monocytes and correlation of PD-1, PD-L1 and IL-10R expression in CD4+ T cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the subjects for their participation in this study. We also thank M. Legault and C. Grignon for their clinical assistance with the recruitment of study subjects. We are grateful to V.A. Evans and J.D. Schatzle for help in manuscript revision. E.A.S., L.T., M.E.-F. and J.V.G. are funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). N.H.S. holds a joint New Investigator Award from the Canadian Foundation for Infectious Diseases and CIHR. J.B. and J.-P.R. are clinician-scientists supported by Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec. R.-P.S. is the Canada Research Chair in Human Immunology. This study was supported by funds from the US National Institutes of Health, the CIHR, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec AIDS and Infectious Disease Network (SIDA-MI) and the Canadian Network for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. This study was funded in part by the Intramural Program of the US National Institutes of Health. Vectors were generously provided by E. Cohen at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal. The lentiviral vector pWPI (empty vector), packaging plasmid psPAX2 and envelope plasmid pMD2G were generously provided by D. Trono (University of Geneva).

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E.A.S. conducted all experiments and wrote the manuscript. F.P.D. participated in performing and planning the experiments in Figure 1b,c and Supplementary Figures 2 and 6a,c–e. L.T. participated in performing and planning the experiments in Figures 1, 3a,d, 4a,c and 5a. Y.Z. prepared the vectors used for the transduction of Cos cells and participated in the experiments in Figures 3i, 5b, 6e and Supplementary Figure 3a. Y.S. participated in the experiments in Figures 6a–c and Supplementary Figure 5d. M.E.-F. participated in the experiments in Figure 5c and Supplementary Figure 5. B.J.H. measured 16S DNA and soluble CD14 levels. A.N. participated in the experiments in Figure 5c. P.A. participated in the experiments in Figure 3. Y.P. participated in the experiments in Figure 6e and Supplementary Figure 6b,c,e. S.G.F. participated in the experiments in Figure 6e and Supplementary Figure 6b,c. J.V.G. participated in the experiments in Figure 1a,b. M.R.B., J.B., N.H.S. and J.-P.R. provided donor samples and data about the viral load and cell counts. D.C.D. performed 16S and soluble CD14 measurement and participated in the manuscript writing. E.K.H. participated in experimental design and in the manuscript writing. R.-P.S. supervised the project.

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Correspondence to Rafick-Pierre Sekaly.

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Said, E., Dupuy, F., Trautmann, L. et al. Programmed death-1–induced interleukin-10 production by monocytes impairs CD4+ T cell activation during HIV infection. Nat Med 16, 452–459 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2106

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