Coxsackievirus B (CVB) infection of pancreatic β cells is associated with β cell autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes. We investigated how CVB affects human β cells and anti-CVB T cell responses. β cells were efficiently infected by CVB in vitro, down-regulated human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I, and presented few, selected HLA-bound viral peptides. Circulating CD8+ T cells from CVB-seropositive individuals recognized a fraction of these peptides; only another subfraction was targeted by effector/memory T cells that expressed exhaustion marker PD-1. T cells recognizing a CVB epitope cross-reacted with β cell antigen GAD. Infected β cells, which formed filopodia to propagate infection, were more efficiently killed by CVB than by CVB-reactive T cells. Our in vitro and ex vivo data highlight limited CD8+ T cell responses to CVB, supporting the rationale for CVB vaccination trials for type 1 diabetes prevention. CD8+ T cells recognizing structural and nonstructural CVB epitopes provide biomarkers to differentially follow response to infection and vaccination.
FörderungenLeona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Swedish Research Council Swedish Child Diabetes Foundation Strategic Research Program in Diabetes at Karolinska Institutet Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) National Institutes of Health NIDDK grant Steve Morgan Foundation Grand Challenge Senior Research Fellowship Novo Nordisk Postdoctoral Fellowship program at Karolinska Institutet JDRF Postdoctoral Fellowship Agence Nationale de la Recherche grant Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale grant JDRF Human Atlas of Neonatal Development and Early Life Immunity program (HANDEL-I) European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations EU Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking JDRF nPOD-Virus grant