Molecular Signatures of Dengue Virus-Specific IL-10/IFN-γ Co-producing CD4 T Cells and Their Association with Dengue Disease
Authors
Yuan Tian, Grégory Seumois, Luzia M De-Oliveira-Pinto, Jose Mateus, Sara Herrera-de la Mata, Cheryl Kim, Denise Hinz, ND Suraj Goonawardhana, Aruna D de Silva, Sunil Premawansa, Gayani Premawansa, Ananda Wijewickrama, Angel Balmaseda, Alba Grifoni, Pandurangan Vijayanand, Eva Harris, Bjoern Peters, Alessandro Sette, Daniela Weiskopf
Journal
Cell reports 29 (13), 4482-4495. e4
Abstract
Dengue virus (DENV) can cause diseases ranging from dengue fever (DF) to more severe dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). Whether antiviral T cells contribute to the protection against or pathogenesis of severe disease is not well defined. Here, we identified antigen-specific IL-10+IFN-γ+ double-positive (DP) CD4 T cells during acute DENV infection. While the transcriptomic signatures of DP cells partially overlapped with those of cytotoxic and type 1 regulatory CD4 T cells, the majority of them were non-cytotoxic/Tr1 and included IL21, IL22, CD109, and CCR1. Although we observed a higher frequency of DP cells in DHF, the transcriptomic profile of DP cells was similar in DF and DHF, suggesting that DHF is not associated with the altered phenotypic or functional attributes of DP cells. Overall, this study revealed a DENV-specific DP cell subset in patients with acute dengue disease and argues against altered DP cells as a determinant of DHF.