Staged development of long-lived T-cell receptor αβ TH17 resident memory T-cell population to Candida albicans after skin infection

TitleStaged development of long-lived T-cell receptor αβ TH17 resident memory T-cell population to Candida albicans after skin infection
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsPark COok, Fu X, Jiang X, Pan Y, Teague JE, Collins N, Tian T, O'Malley JT, Emerson RO, Kim JHye, Jung Y, Watanabe R, Fuhlbrigge RC, Carbone FR, Gebhardt T, Clark RA, Lin CP, Kupper TS
JournalJ Allergy Clin Immunol
Volume142
Issue2
Date Published08/2018
Abstract

Background

Candida albicans is a dimorphic fungus to which human subjects are exposed early in life, and by adulthood, it is part of the mycobiome of skin and other tissues. Neonatal skin lacks resident memory T (TRM) cells, but in adults the C albicans skin test is a surrogate for immunocompetence. Young adult mice raised under specific pathogen-free conditions are naive to C albicans and have been shown recently to have an immune system resembling that of neonatal human subjects.

Objective

We studied the evolution of the adaptive cutaneous immune response to Candida species.

Methods

We examined both human skin T cells and the de novo and memory immune responses in a mouse model of C albicans skin infection.

Results

In mice the initial IL-17–producing cells after C albicans infection were dermal γδ T cells, but by day 7, αβ TH17 effector T cells were predominant. By day 30, the majority of C albicans–reactive IL-17–producing T cells were CD4 TRM cells. Intravital microscopy showed that CD4 effector T cells were recruited to the site of primary infection and were highly motile 10 days after infection. Between 30 and 90 days after infection, these CD4 T cells became increasingly sessile, acquired expression of CD69 and CD103, and localized to the papillary dermis. These established TRM cells produced IL-17 on challenge, whereas motile migratory memory T cells did not. TRM cells rapidly clear an infectious challenge with C albicans more effectively than recirculating T cells, although both populations participate. We found that in normal human skin IL-17–producing CD4+ TRM cells that responded to C albicans in an MHC class II–restricted fashion could be identified readily.

Conclusions

These studies demonstrate that C albicans infection of skin preferentially generates CD4+ IL-17–producing TRM cells, which mediate durable protective immunity.

URLhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091674917317372
DOI10.1016/j.jaci.2017.09.042