Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1469118
This article is part of the Research Topic The Host and Pathogen Determinants of Tuberculosis Spectrum Diseases View all articles

IFNγ-secreting T cells that highly express IL-2 potently inhibit the growth of intracellular M. tuberculosis in macrophages

Provisionally accepted
Liying Zhu Liying Zhu 1Bo Wang Bo Wang 2Gu Jin Gu Jin 3Jiayu Zhou Jiayu Zhou 1Yuan Wu Yuan Wu 1Wei Xu Wei Xu 1Min Yang Min Yang 1Xia CAI Xia CAI 1Hongbo Shen Hongbo Shen 3*Lu Lu Lu Lu 1FEIFEI WANG FEIFEI WANG 1*
  • 1 Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
  • 2 Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease (tuberculosis), Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine., Shanghai, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cytokine of interferon-gamma (IFNγ) plays a vital role in the immune response against Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, yet the specific function of T cells producing IFNγ in this process remains unclear. In this study, we first isolated IFNγ + CD3 + T cells induced by Mtb antigens using surface staining assays. which showed a strong ability to inhibit the growth of intracellular mycobacteria in macrophages. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy individuals were then challenged with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) or Mtb, respectively, to sort IFNγ-secreting T cells for mRNA sequencing to analyze the gene expression patterns. The results of the integrated data analysis revealed distinct patterns of gene expression between IFNγ + CD3 + T cells induced by the BCG vaccine and those induced by Mtb pathogens. Further, unlike Mtb-induced cells, BCG-induced IFNγ + CD3 + T cells expressed high levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), which increased the frequencies of these cells and the production of effector cytokines IFNγ and IL-2. Our findings suggested that IFNγ + CD3 + T cells with high IL-2 expression presented potent effector functions to inhibit intracellular Mtb growth, while Mtb infection impaired IL-2 expression in IFNγ + CD3 + T cells.

    Keywords: IFNγ-secreting T cells, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, BCG, IL-2, Intracellular mycobacteria, mRNA sequencing

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 18 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhu, Wang, Jin, Zhou, Wu, Xu, Yang, CAI, Shen, Lu and WANG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Hongbo Shen, Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease (tuberculosis), Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine., Shanghai, China
    FEIFEI WANG, Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.