Immune defense against hepatotropic viruses such as hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) poses a major challenge for therapeutic approaches. Intrahepatic cytotoxic CD8 T cells that are crucial for an immune response against these viruses often become exhausted resulting in chronic infection. We elucidated the T cell response upon therapeutic vaccination in inducible transgenic mouse models in which variable percentages of antigen-expressing hepatocytes can be adjusted, providing mosaic antigen distribution and reflecting the varying viral antigen loads observed in patients. Vaccination induced endogenous CD8 T cells could eliminate low antigen loads in liver but were functionally impaired if confronted with elevated antigen loads. Strikingly, only by conditioning the liver environment with TLR9 ligand prior and early after peripheral vaccination, successful immunization against high intrahepatic antigen density with its elimination was achieved. Moreover, TLR9 immunomodulation was also indispensable for functional memory recall after high frequency antigen challenge. Together, the results indicate that TLR9-mediated conditioning of liver environment during therapeutic vaccination or antigen reoccurrence is crucial for an efficacious intrahepatic T cell response.

Intrapulmonary immune reactions are impaired by the tolerogenic environment of the lung. This is manifested by the absence of effective endogenous T cell responses upon neoantigen expression. This tolerance is considered to contribute to lung cancer and inefficient immune therapeutic interventions. To investigate the mechanisms contributing to lung tolerance and to overcome these restrictions, we developed a transgenic mouse model with induction of a neoantigen (OVA) exclusively in alveolar type II epithelial cells. This model is characterized by the absence of functional endogenous T cell responses upon OVA neoantigen induction. Standard DNA and protein vaccination protocols resulted in the accumulation of high numbers of antigen-specific CD8 T cells in the lung. However, clearance of antigen-expressing cells was not achieved. To overcome this tolerance, we induced inflammatory conditions by coapplication of the TLR ligands LPS and CpG-ODN during intrapulmonary vaccinations. Both ligands induced high numbers of neoantigen-specific T cells in the lung. However, only coapplication of CpG-ODN was sufficient to establish functional cytotoxic responses resulting in the elimination of neoantigen presenting target cells. Remarkably, CpG-ODN was also crucial for functional memory responses upon re-induction of the neoantigen. The results highlight the need of TLR9 co-stimulation for overcoming tolerization, which might be a key factor for therapeutic interventions.

Aim. Obesity is accompanied with systemic inflammation and pre-conditions to severe alterations in liver environment and functions. So far, it remains elusive to which extent obesity modulates immune responses during hepatotropic virus infections as well as in autoimmune hepatitis. In this study we investigated the influence of obesity on the intrahepatic immune response, in particular on the function of CD8 T cells as the crucial players in clearance of virus infected hepatocytes.Methods. We established high fat induced obesity in transgenic mouse models with hepatocyte specific expression of a model antigen (Ova). We investigated the immune response upon adoptive transfer of antigen specific T cells and in mice with continuous thymic output of antigen specific T cells, mimicking the situations upon acute infection and autoimmunity, respectively.Results. Irrespective of the metabolic condition, adoptive T cell transfer resulted in a transient hepatitis with no obvious differences concerning the acute T cell response. In the situation of autoimmunity, we observed a transient hepatitis in lean mice, whereas an extended hepatitis with a reduced antigen clearance capacity was found in obese mice.Conclusion. Our results demonstrate that obesity affects T cell function and increases the severity of autoimmune hepatitis while it has no impact on the acute T cell response. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Liver infections with hepatotropic viruses, such as hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus are accompanied by viral persistence and immune failure. CD8+ T cells are crucial mediators of the intrahepatic antiviral immune response. Chronic infections of the liver and other organs correlate with T-cell exhaustion. It was previously suggested that high antigen load could result in T-cell exhaustion. We aimed at elucidating the impact of different intrahepatic antigen loads on the quality of CD8+ T-cell-mediated immunity by employing an infection-free transgenic mouse model expressing ovalbumin (Ova) as the target antigen. Adoptive transfer of OT-I cells induced a transient intrahepatic immune response toward both high and low Ova levels. However, antigen clearance was achieved only in mice expressing low antigen levels. In contrast, T cells exposed to high antigen levels underwent exhaustion and became depleted, causing antigen persistence. Moreover, when functional T cells were exposed to high intrahepatic antigen levels, a complete transition toward exhaustion was observed. Thus, this study shows that the antigen expression level in the liver correlates inversely with T-cell immunity in vivo and governs the efficiency of immune responses upon antigen presentation.

The liver has the ability to prime immune responses against neo antigens provided upon infections. However, T cell immunity in liver is uniquely modulated by the complex tolerogenic property of this organ that has to also cope with foreign agents such as endotoxins or food antigens. In this respect, the nature of intrahepatic T cell responses remains to be fully characterized. To gain deeper insight into the mechanisms that regulate the CD8+ T cell responses in the liver, we established a novel OVA_X_CreERT2 mouse model. Upon tamoxifen administration OVA antigen expression is observed in a fraction of hepatocytes, resulting in a mosaic expression pattern. To elucidate the cross-talk of CD8+ T cells with antigen-expressing hepatocytes, we adoptively transferred Kb/OVA257-264-specific OT-I T cells to OVA_X_CreERT2 mice or generated triple transgenic OVA_X CreERT2_X_OT-I mice. OT-I T cells become activated in OVA_X_CreERT2 mice and induce an acute and transient hepatitis accompanied by liver damage. In OVA_X_CreERT2_X_OT-I mice, OVA induction triggers an OT-I T cell mediated, fulminant hepatitis resulting in 50% mortality. Surviving mice manifest a long lasting hepatitis, and recover after 9 weeks. In these experimental settings, recovery from hepatitis correlates with a complete loss of OVA expression indicating efficient clearance of the antigen-expressing hepatocytes. Moreover, a relapse of hepatitis can be induced upon re-induction of cured OVA_X_CreERT2_X_OT-I mice indicating absence of tolerogenic mechanisms. This pathogen-free, conditional mouse model has the advantage of tamoxifen inducible tissue specific antigen expression that reflects the heterogeneity of viral antigen expression and enables the study of intrahepatic immune responses to both de novo and persistent antigen. It allows following the course of intrahepatic immune responses: initiation, the acute phase and antigen clearance.

Chronic hepatotropic viral infections are characterized by exhausted CD8+ T cells in the presence of cognate antigen in the liver. The impairment of T cell response limits the control of chronic hepatotropic viruses. Immune-modulatory strategies are attractive options to re-invigorate exhausted T cells. However, in hepatotropic viral infections, the knowledge about immune-modulatory effects on the in-situ regulation of exhausted intrahepatic CD8+ T cells is limited. In this study, we elucidated the functional heterogeneity in the pool of exhausted CD8+ T cells in the liver of mice expressing the model antigen Ova in a fraction of hepatocytes. We found a subpopulation of intrahepatic CXCR5+ Ova-specific CD8+ T cells, which are profoundly cytotoxic, exhibiting efficient metabolic functions as well as improved memory recall and self-maintenance. The intrahepatic Ova-specific CXCR5+ CD8+ T cells are possibly tissue resident cells, which may rely largely on OXPHOS and glycolysis to fuel their cellular processes. Importantly, host conditioning with CpG oligonucleotide reinvigorates and promotes exhausted T cell expansion, facilitating complete antigen eradication. The CpG oligonucleotide-mediated reinvigoration may support resident memory T cell formation and the maintenance of CXCR5+ Ova-specific CD8+ T cells in the liver. These findings suggest that CpG oligodinucleotide may preferentially target CXCR5+ CD8+ T cells for expansion to facilitate the revival of exhausted T cells. Thus, therapeutic strategies aiming to expand CXCR5+ CD8+ T cells might provide a novel approach against chronic liver infection.