Interleukin-15 response signature predicts RhCMV/SIV vaccine efficacy

Fredrik Barrenäs, Scott G. Hansen, Lynn Law, Connor Driscoll, Richard R. Green, Elise Smith, Jean Chang, Inah Golez, Taryn Urion, Xinxia Peng, Leanne Whitmore, Daniel Newhouse, Colette M. Hughes, David Morrow, Kurt T. Randall, Andrea N. Selseth, Julia C. Ford, Roxanne M. Gilbride, Bryan E. Randall, Emily AinslieKelli Oswald, Rebecca Shoemaker, Randy Fast, William J. Bosche, Michael K. Axthelm, Yoshinori Fukazawa, George N. Pavlakis, Barbara K. Felber, Slim Fourati, Rafick Pierre Sekaly, Jeffrey D. Lifson, Jan Komorowski, Ewelina Kosmider, Danica Shao, Wenjun Song, Paul T. Edlefsen, Louis J. Picker, Michael Gale

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) challenge of rhesus macaques (RMs) vaccinated with strain 68-1 Rhesus Cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) vectors expressing SIV proteins (RhCMV/ SIV) results in a binary outcome: stringent control and subsequent clearance of highly pathogenic SIV in ~55% of vaccinated RMs with no protection in the remaining 45%. Although previous work indicates that unconventionally restricted, SIV-specific, effector-memory (EM)-biased CD8+ T cell responses are necessary for efficacy, the magnitude of these responses does not predict efficacy, and the basis of protection vs. non-protection in 68-1 RhCMV/SIV vector-vaccinated RMs has not been elucidated. Here, we report that 68-1 RhCMV/SIV vector administration strikingly alters the whole blood transcriptome of vaccinated RMs, with the sustained induction of specific immune-related pathways, including immune cell, toll-like receptor (TLR), inflammasome/cell death, and interleukin-15 (IL-15) signaling, significantly correlating with subsequent vaccine efficacy. Treatment of a separate RM cohort with IL-15 confirmed the central involvement of this cytokine in the protection signature, linking the major innate and adaptive immune gene expression networks that correlate with RhCMV/SIV vaccine efficacy. This change-from-baseline IL-15 response signature was also demonstrated to significantly correlate with vaccine efficacy in an independent validation cohort of vaccinated and challenged RMs. The differential IL-15 gene set response to vaccination strongly correlated with the pre-vaccination activity of this pathway, with reduced baseline expression of IL-15 response genes significantly correlating with higher vaccine-induced induction of IL-15 signaling and subsequent vaccine protection, suggesting that a robust de novo vaccine-induced IL-15 signaling response is needed to program vaccine efficacy. Thus, the RhCMV/SIV vaccine imparts a coordinated and persistent induction of innate and adaptive immune pathways featuring IL-15, a known regulator of CD8+ T cell function, that support the ability of vaccine-elicited unconventionally restricted CD8+ T cells to mediate protection against SIV challenge.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere1009278
JournalPLoS pathogens
Volume17
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Parasitology
  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics
  • Virology

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