A TCRβ Repertoire Signature Can Predict Experimental Cerebral Malaria

PLoS One. 2016 Feb 4;11(2):e0147871. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147871. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Cerebral Malaria (CM) is associated with a pathogenic T cell response. Mice infected by P. berghei ANKA clone 1.49 (PbA) developing CM (CM+) present an altered PBL TCR repertoire, partly due to recurrently expanded T cell clones, as compared to non-infected and CM- infected mice. To analyse the relationship between repertoire alteration and CM, we performed a kinetic analysis of the TRBV repertoire during the course of the infection until CM-related death in PbA-infected mice. The repertoires of PBL, splenocytes and brain lymphocytes were compared between infected and non-infected mice using a high-throughput CDR3 spectratyping method. We observed a modification of the whole TCR repertoire in the spleen and blood of infected mice, from the fifth and the sixth day post-infection, respectively, while only three TRBV were significantly perturbed in the brain of infected mice. Using multivariate analysis and statistical modelling, we identified a unique TCRβ signature discriminating CM+ from CTR mice, enriched during the course of the infection in the spleen and the blood and predicting CM onset. These results highlight a dynamic modification and compartmentalization of the TCR diversity during the course of PbA infection, and provide a novel method to identify disease-associated TCRβ signature as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain / immunology
  • Brain / parasitology
  • Complementarity Determining Regions / genetics
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Malaria, Cerebral / diagnosis
  • Malaria, Cerebral / genetics*
  • Malaria, Cerebral / immunology
  • Malaria, Cerebral / parasitology*
  • Mice
  • Plasmodium berghei
  • Prognosis
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / genetics*
  • Spleen / immunology
  • Spleen / metabolism
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / metabolism

Substances

  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta

Grants and funding

This work has been funded by Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Université Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris VI), LabEx Transimmunom (ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02), LabEx Parafrap (ANR-11-LABX-0024) and LIA CNRS DBT SIGID ("Systems Immunology and genetics of infectious diseases"). EMF & HPP have been supported by a doctoral fellowship from Ministère de la Recherche et de la Technologie, as well as by Fondation de France and Institut Pasteur for EMF.