Expression of costimulatory ligand CD70 on steady-state dendritic cells breaks CD8+ T cell tolerance and permits effective immunity.
Steady-state dendritic cells (DCs) maintain peripheral T cell tolerance, whereas mature DCs generate immunity. CD70 is a costimulatory ligand acquired upon DC maturation. To determine its impact on T cell fate, we have generated mice that constitutively express CD70 in conventional DCs (cDCs). In these mice, naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells spontaneously convert into effector cells. Administration of peptide without adjuvant, which is ordinarily tolerogenic, elicited tumor-eradicating CD8+ T cell responses and robust CD4+ T cell-independent memory. CD70 was also constitutively expressed in cDCs that inducibly present viral epitopes. In this case, tolerance induction was prevented as well. The antigen-presenting DCs generated protective immunity to virus infection and broke a pre-existing state of CD8+ T cell tolerance. Thus, the sole expression of CD70 by otherwise immature cDCs sufficed to convert CD8+ T cell tolerance into immunity, defining the importance of CD27-CD70 interactions at the interface between T cell and DC.
Keller
Anna M
AM
Division of Immunology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Schildknecht
Anita
A
Xiao
Yanling
Y
van den Broek
Maries
M
Borst
Jannie
J
D000818:Animals; D053282:CD27 Ligand / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D018127:Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7 / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
D053282:CD27 Ligand; C110366:OVA-8; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D018127:Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7; D010047:Ovalbumin