Abstract

Exhaustion of cytotoxic effector natural killer (NK) and CD8+ T cells have important functions in the establishment of persistent viral infections, but how exhaustion is induced during chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains poorly defined. Here we show, using the humanized C/OTg mice permissive for persistent HCV infection, that NK and CD8+ T cells become sequentially exhausted shortly after their transient hepatic infiltration and activation in acute HCV infection. HCV infection upregulates Qa-1 expression in hepatocytes, which ligates NKG2A to induce NK cell exhaustion. Antibodies targeting NKG2A or Qa-1 prevents NK exhaustion and promotes NK-dependent HCV clearance. Moreover, reactivated NK cells provide sufficient IFN-γ that helps rejuvenate polyclonal HCV CD8+ T cell response and clearance of HCV. Our data thus show that NKG2A serves as a critical checkpoint for HCV-induced NK exhaustion, and that NKG2A blockade sequentially boosts interdependent NK and CD8+ T cell functions to prevent persistent HCV infection.

Immune cells may become less responsive, or ‘exhausted’, upon chronic viral infection, but the underlying mechanism and crosstalk are still unclear. Here the authors show that, upon chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, natural killer cell exhaustion is induced by NKG2A signalling to instruct downstream exhaustion of CD8+ T cells and HCV persistence.

Details

Title
NKG2A is a NK cell exhaustion checkpoint for HCV persistence
Author
Zhang, Chao 1 ; Xiao-mei, Wang 2 ; Shu-ran, Li 3 ; Twelkmeyer Trix 4 ; Wei-hong, Wang 3 ; Sheng-yuan, Zhang 5 ; Shu-feng, Wang 6 ; Ji-zheng, Chen 7 ; Xia, Jin 8 ; Yu-zhang, Wu 6 ; Xin-wen, Chen 7 ; Sheng-dian, Wang 9 ; Jun-qi, Niu 2 ; Hai-rong, Chen 1 ; Tang, Hong 10 

 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Joint Laboratory of Infection and Immunity at Institut Pasteur of Shanghai and Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 The First Hospital of Jilin University, Department of Hepatology, Changchun, China (GRID:grid.430605.4) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Joint Laboratory of Infection and Immunity at Institut Pasteur of Shanghai and Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.410726.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1797 8419) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Joint Laboratory of Infection and Immunity at Institut Pasteur of Shanghai and Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Joint Laboratory of Infection and Immunity at Institut Pasteur of Shanghai and Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); ShanghaiTech University, School of Life Science and Technology, Shanghai, China (GRID:grid.440637.2) 
 The Third Military Medical University, Institute of Immunology, Chongqing, China (GRID:grid.410570.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 1760 6682) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The State Key Laboratory of Virology and Center for Viral Pathology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Wuhan, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
 Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
10  Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Joint Laboratory of Infection and Immunity at Institut Pasteur of Shanghai and Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Chinese Academy of Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309); Chinese Academy of Sciences, The State Key Laboratory of Virology and Center for Viral Pathology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Wuhan, China (GRID:grid.9227.e) (ISNI:0000000119573309) 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Dec 2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2202774140
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.