Features of Human CD3+CD20+ T Cells
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Published July 13, 2016, doi:10.4049/jimmunol.1600089 The Journal of Immunology Features of Human CD3+CD20+ T Cells Elisabeth Schuh,*,† Kerstin Berer,‡ Matthias Mulazzani,x,{ Katharina Feil,x Ingrid Meinl,* Harald Lahm,‖ Markus Krane,‖,# Rudiger€ Lange,‖,# Kristina Pfannes,** Marion Subklewe,** Robert Gurkov,€ †† Monika Bradl,† Reinhard Hohlfeld,*,‡‡ Tania Kumpfel,*€ Edgar Meinl,*,1 and Markus Krumbholz*,1,2 Monoclonal Abs against CD20 reduce the number of relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS); commonly this effect is solely attributed to depletion of B cells. Recently, however, a subset of CD3+CD20+ T cells has been described that is also targeted by the anti-CD20 mAb rituximab. Because the existence of cells coexpressing CD3 and CD20 is controversial and features of this subpopulation are poorly understood, we studied this issue in detail. In this study, we confirm that 3–5% of circulating human T cells display CD20 on their surface and transcribe both CD3 and CD20. We report that these CD3+CD20+ T cells pervade thymus, bone marrow, and secondary lymphatic organs. They are found in the cerebrospinal fluid even in the absence of inflammation; in the cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients they occur at a frequency similar to B cells. Phenotypically, these T cells are enriched in CD8+ and CD45RO+ memory cells and in CCR72 cells. Functionally, they show a higher frequency of IL-4–, IL-17–, IFN-g–, and TNF-a–producing cells compared with T cells lacking CD20. CD20-expressing T cells respond variably to immunomodulatory treatments given to MS patients: they are reduced by fingolimod, alemtuzumab, and dimethyl fumarate, whereas natalizumab disproportionally increases them in the blood. After depletion by rituximab, they show earlier and higher repopulation than CD20+ B cells. Taken together, human CD3+CD20+ T cells pervade lymphatic organs and the cerebrospinal fluid, have a strong ability to produce different cytokines, and respond to MS disease modifying drugs. The Journal of Immunology, 2016, 197: 000–000. argeting CD20 with depleting mAbs is an approved marker. In fact, CD20 is expressed during B cell development and therapy in rheumatic diseases (1) and is promising in maturation from pre-B cells to plasmablasts (5, 6). However, there multiple sclerosis (MS) (2–4). The therapeutic success are conflicting reports that CD20 is also expressed by some T + has so far solely been attributed to the depletion of CD20 B cells T cells. The first report of CD20-expressing T cells in the circu- because CD20 is commonly considered as a specific B cell lation dates back to 1993, where a subset of CD3+CD20+ T cells has been described in healthy subjects (7) and later also in pe- ripheral T cell lymphoma (8). The description of CD3+CD20+ *Institute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Center and University Hospital, T cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients and controls (9) was dis- Ludwig Maximilian University, 82152 Martinsried, Germany; †Department of Neuro- puted and has been regarded as an artifact of flow cytometry (10). immunology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University, 1090 Vienna, Austria; + + ‡ x Yet recently, a subset of CD3 CD20 T cells that is also targeted Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 82152 Martinsried, Germany; Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University, 81377 Munich, by rituximab has been described (11). The issue remains com- { Germany; Medical Graduate Center, Technical University, 81675 Munich, plicated, however, because CD3+ B cells have been described as a Germany; ‖German Heart Center, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Exper- imental Surgery Laboratory, 80636 Munich, Germany; #German Center for Cardio- result from ex vivo storage of blood samples, leading to contact- vascular Research (partner site Munich Heart Alliance), 80636 Munich, Germany; dependent Ag exchange between T and B lymphocytes (12). **Department of Medicine III, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University, We therefore aimed to clarify this issue by analysis of the ex- 81377 Munich, Germany; ††Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian University, 81377 Munich, Germany; and ‡‡Munich Cluster pression of CD20 on human T cells in detail. First, we confirmed for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), 81377 Munich, Germany that indeed ∼3–5% of human T cells in blood display CD20 on the 1E.M. and M.K. contributed equally to the study. surface and also transcribe both CD3 and CD20. We then exam- 2Current address: Department of Neurology and Stroke, Hertie Institute for Clinical ined their occurrence in human primary and secondary lymphatic Brain Research, Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen, Germany. organs and also in the cerebrospinal fluid. We determined their ORCIDs: 0000-0002-3517-5084 (M.M.); 0000-0002-4477-3406 (H.L.); 0000-0002- phenotype and their ability to produce cytokines. Furthermore, we 6662-5957 (R.L.); 0000-0003-2239-1586 (M.B.). analyzed how these cells are affected by different immunomod- Received for publication January 15, 2016. Accepted for publication June 2, 2016. ulatory treatments in MS patients. Thus, this study increases our This work was supported partially by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant SFB knowledge about the biology of human CD3+CD20+ T cells and TR128), the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (Grant ExC 1010 SyNergy), the Clinical Competence Network for Multiple Sclerosis, and Verein zur Therapiefor- their response to immunomodulatory treatments in MS. schung fur€ Multiple Sklerose-Kranke. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Edgar Meinl, Institute of Clinical Materials and Methods Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Center and University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilian Patients and control donors University of Munich, Grosshaderner Strasse 9, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany. E-mail address: [email protected] All human samples were collected following written informed consent The online version of this article contains supplemental material. according to local ethics policy guidelines of the Ludwig-Maximilian University and the German Heart Center in accordance with the Decla- Abbreviations used in this article: FMOC, fluorescence minus-one control; FSC, forward scatter of light; FSC-A, forward scatter–area; FSC-H, forward scatter– ration of Helsinki. Peripheral blood was obtained from patients with a height; HC, healthy control; MS, multiple sclerosis; NMOSD, neuromyelitis optica confirmed diagnosis of MS (n = 39); neuromyelitis optica spectrum dis- spectrum disorder; OND, other neurological disease; SSC, side scatter of light. order (NMOSD) (n = 18), who either were untreated or received several courses of rituximab, alemtuzumab, natalizumab, fingolimod, or dimethyl Copyright Ó 2016 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. 0022-1767/16/$30.00 fumarate and healthy controls (HC, n = 11). Clinical data of MS and www.jimmunol.org/cgi/doi/10.4049/jimmunol.1600089 2 CD3+CD20+ T CELLS NMOSD patients included in this study for therapy response are depicted Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). For real- in Supplemental Table I. Cerebrospinal fluid samples were obtained from a time PCR, TaqMan assays for cyclophilin A (peptidyl-prolyl isomerase A; total of 14 untreated patients, 6 of which had MS (n = 6). Eight patients did Applied Biosystems), CD3, CD20 (both Applied Biosystems), and CD19 not show any evidence of CNS inflammation and were classified as other [(e4) 844-F, GCAACCTGACCATGTCATTCC, (e4-5) 875Tf (C . G), neurological diseases (OND) (status epilepticus, n = 1; stroke, n =3; CACTGCTCGGCCAGTAC TATGGCACTG, (e5) 952 RAGATAAGCC- cluster headache, n = 1; intracerebral bleeding, n = 1; and dementia, n = 2). AAAGTCACAGCTGAGA)] were used in combination with the TaqMan Bone marrow was obtained by iliac crest aspiration for diagnostic reasons. PCR Core Reagent Kit (Applied Biosystems). Samples were run in In addition, we received thymic tissue from five infantile patients (01, duplicates in MicroAmp Optical 96-well reaction plates (Applied Bio- male, 87 d old; 02, female, 10 d; 03, male, 93 d; 04, male, 10 d; and 05, systems) in a 7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems). female, 7 d), which was removed during heart surgery. Data were analyzed using SDSv2.3 software (Applied Biosystems). Preparation of tissue samples from thymus, adenoids, bone-marrow, blood, Statistics and cerebrospinal fluid. Thymic and lymphatic tissue were minced into very small fragments by gentle mechanical disruption and stirred in RPMI 1640 Statistical significance was assessed with Prism Software (GraphPad) by medium on ice (2 3 10 min) to obtain single-cell suspensions. PBMC were unpaired, paired t test, or one-way ANOVA following Tukey, Holm–Sı´da´k, prepared by Pancoll (Pan Biotech, Aidenbach, Germany) density gradient or Bonferroni correction as appropriate. The p values (*p , 0.05, **p , centrifugation. Bone marrow samples, anticoagulated with EDTA, were 0.01, ***p , 0.001, and ****p , 0.0001) were considered significant and prepared by erythrocyte lysis. Samples were incubated for 12 min in lysis designated accordingly. buffer and further washed with PBS buffer, according to the manufac- turer’s protocol (Beckman Coulter, Krefeld, Germany). Results Flow cytometry Identification and phenotype of human CD3+CD20+ T cells Single lymphocytes of human PBMC were identified by forward scatter We compared two mAbs against CD20 and found that clone 2H7 is of light (FSC) and side scatter of light (SSC). We further divided + + 2 more