The Acquisition of Human B Cell Memory in Response to Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Summer 2010 The Acquisition of Human B Cell Memory in Response to Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria Gretchen E. Weiss University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Biology Commons, Immunity Commons, Immunology of Infectious Disease Commons, Medical Immunology Commons, and the Parasitology Commons Recommended Citation Weiss, Gretchen E., "The Acquisition of Human B Cell Memory in Response to Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 210. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/210 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/210 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Acquisition of Human B Cell Memory in Response to Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria Abstract Immunity to Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), the most deadly agent of malaria, is only acquired after years of repeated infections and appears to wane rapidly without ongoing exposure. Antibodies (Abs) are central to malaria immunity, yet little is known about the B‐cell biology that underlies Pf‐specific humoral immunity. To address this gap in our knowledge we carried out a year‐long prospective study of the acquisition and maintenance of long‐lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and memory B cells (MBCs) in 225 individuals aged two to twenty‐five years in Mali, in an area of intense seasonal transmission. Using protein microarrays containing approximately 25% of the Pf proteome we determined that Pf‐specific Abs were acquired only gradually, in a stepwise fashion over years of Pf exposure. Pf‐specific Ab levels were significantly boosted each eary during the transmission season but the majority of these Abs were short lived and were lost over the subsequent six month period of no transmission. Thus, we observed only a small incremental increase in stable Ab levels each year, presumably reflecting the slow acquisition LLPCs. The acquisition Pf‐specific MBCs mirrored the slow step‐wise acquisition of LLPCs. This slow acquisition of Pf‐specific LLPCs and MBCs was in sharp contrast to that of tetanus toxoid (TT)‐specific LLPCs and MBCs that were vi vi rapidly acquired and stably maintained following a single vaccination in individuals in this cohort. In addition to the development of normal MBCs we observed an expansion of atypical MBCs that are phenotypically similar to hyporesponsive FCRL4+ cells described in HIV‐infected individuals. Atypical MBC expansion correlated with cumulative exposure to Pf, and with persistent asymptomatic Pf‐infection in children, suggesting that the parasite may play a role in driving the expansion of atypical MBCs. Collectively, these observations provide a rare glimpse into the process of the acquisition of human B cell memory in response to infection and provide evidence for a selective deficit in the generation of Pf‐specific LLPCs and MBCs during malaria. uturF e studies will address the mechanisms underlying the slow acquisition of LLPCs and MBCs and the generation and function of atypical MBCs. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Immunology First Advisor Susan K. Pierce Keywords B cell, malaria, pathogen-host interaction, immune modulation, vaccine development Subject Categories Biology | Immunity | Immunology of Infectious Disease | Medical Immunology | Parasitology This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/210 THE ACQUISITION OF HUMAN B CELL MEMORY IN RESPONSE TO PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM MALARIA Greta E. Weiss A DISSERTATION in Immunology Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 _________________________________ Susan K. Pierce, Ph.D., Director LIG/NIAID/NIH Supervisor of Dissertation _________________________________ Steve L. Reiner, M.D. Graduate Group Chairperson E. John Wherry, Ph.D. Michael P. Cancro, Ph.D. Nina Luning Prak, M.D., Ph.D. Phillip Scott, Ph.D. Alan Sher, Ph.D. Dedication This work is dedicated to the children who have suffered from and continue to suffer from Plasmodium falciparum‐malaria. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the volunteers that participated in the U.S. vaccine trials and the Kambila cohort study, as well as the chief and elders of Kambila who gave us permission to work there. I also thank all those who supported the trial at the clinic in Kambila and the Malaria Research and Training Center in Bamako, with a special thanks to Richard Sakai. I would also like to thank Marko Mircetic, Shanping Li, Amy Baughman, Michael Waisberg, Brandi Vickers, Chiung‐Yu Huang, Kazutoyo Miura, Susan Moir, Jason Ho, David L. Narum, Ruth D. Ellis, Rick M. Fairhurst, Matthew A. Kayala, Douglas M. Molina, Chad R. Burk, Phillip L. Felgner, Boubacar Traore, Kassoum Kayentao, Aissata Ongoiba, Safiatou Doumbo, Didier Doumtabe, Younoussou Kone, Seidina A. S. Diakite, Seydou Doumbia, Seydou Dia, Amagana Dolo, Agnes Guindo, Abdramane Traore, Aldiouma Guindo, and Ogobara K. Doumbo. My gratitude also goes to Louis H. Miller, with whom I am honored to work. Peter D. Crompton has been my colleague and constant sounding‐board through all the trials and tribulations of this process, for which I am truly grateful. Last and most importantly I extend my sincere and deep gratitude to my mentor Susan K. Pierce, whose guidance has been invaluable. iii ABSTRACT THE ACQUISITION OF HUMAN B CELL MEMORY IN RESPONSE TO PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM MALARIA Greta E. Weiss Susan K. Pierce Immunity to Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), the most deadly agent of malaria, is only acquired after years of repeated infections and appears to wane rapidly without ongoing exposure. Antibodies (Abs) are central to malaria immunity, yet little is known about the B‐cell biology that underlies Pf‐specific humoral immunity. To address this gap in our knowledge we carried out a year‐long prospective study of the acquisition and maintenance of long‐lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and memory B cells (MBCs) in 225 individuals aged two to twenty‐five years in Mali, in an area of intense seasonal transmission. Using protein microarrays containing approximately 25% of the Pf proteome we determined that Pf‐specific Abs were acquired only gradually, in a step‐ wise fashion over years of Pf exposure. Pf‐specific Ab levels were significantly boosted each year during the transmission season but the majority of these Abs were short lived and were lost over the subsequent six month period of no transmission. Thus, we observed only an incremental increase in stable Ab levels each year, presumably reflecting the slow acquisition of LLPCs. The acquisition Pf‐specific MBCs mirrored the slow step‐wise acquisition of LLPCs. This slow acquisition of Pf‐specific LLPCs and MBCs was in sharp contrast to that of tetanus toxoid (TT)‐specific LLPCs and MBCs that were iv rapidly acquired and stably maintained following a single vaccination in individuals in this cohort. In addition to the development of normal MBCs we observed an expansion of atypical MBCs that are phenotypically similar to hyporesponsive FCRL4+ cells described in HIV‐infected individuals. Atypical MBC expansion correlated with cumulative exposure to Pf, and with persistent asymptomatic Pf‐infection in children, suggesting that the parasite may play a role in driving the expansion of atypical MBCs. Collectively, these observations provide a rare glimpse into the process of the acquisition of human B cell memory in response to infection and provide evidence for a selective deficit in the generation of Pf‐specific LLPCs and MBCs during malaria. Future studies will address the mechanisms underlying the slow acquisition of LLPCs and MBCs and the generation and function of atypical MBCs. v Table of Contents List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..xi List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..xii List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………………………………..xv Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Overview………………………………………………………………………………..………………..1 1.2 Malaria burden and epidemiology……………………………………………….……………1 1.3 P. falciparum life cycle……………………………………………………………………………...3 1.4 Current control strategies and the need for a vaccine………………………………..5 1.5 Development of humoral memory in humans…………………………………………...7 1.6 The acquisition of immunity to malaria……………………………………………………12 1.7 The acquisition of antibodies and memory B cells in response to malaria..13 1.8 Hypotheses, goals and outline…………………………………………………………………19 Chapter 2: Materials and Methods 2.1 Ethics Statements 2.1.1 U.S. Vaccine trials……………………………………………………..………………22 2.1.2 U.S. blood bank samples……………………………………………………………22 2.1.3 Kambila, Mali cohort study……………………………………………..…………22 2.1.4 Zungarococha, Peru cohort study………………………………………………23 2.2 Study sites and cohorts 2.2.1 U.S. Vaccine trials……………………………………………………..………………23 2.2.2 U.S. blood bank samples……………………………………………………………24 2.2.3 Kambila, Mali cohort study……………………..……………………..…………25 2.2.4 Zungarococha, Peru cohort study………………………………………………26 2.3 Sample collection vi 2.3.1 U.S. Vaccine trials……………………………………………………..………………27 2.3.2 U.S. blood bank samples……………………………………………………………28 2.3.3 Kambila, Mali cohort study……………………………………………..…..……28 2.3.4 Zungarococha, Peru cohort study………………………………………………29 2.4 Vaccine compositions and schedules…………………………………………..…….……30 2.5 Assays and