Immunization with excretory-secretory molecules of intestinal nematodes induces antigen-specific protective memory Th2 cell responses

Abstract

Parasitic nematodes infect more than 1 billion people in the global south. The development of effective antihelminthic vaccines is a crucial tool for their future elimination. Protective immune responses to nematodes depend on Gata3⁺ Th2 cells, which can also be induced by nematode-released products. Whether these nematode products induce antigen-specific long-lived memory T cells and thereby confer protection against a challenge infection is not known yet. Hence, we set out to characterize the formation of memory Th2 cells induced by immunization with Heligmosomoides polygyrus excretory-secretory (HES) products, infection-induced versus immunization-induced recall responses to a challenge infection, and whether HES-induced memory T cells show protective properties following adoptive transfer. Our results show that 8 weeks postimmunization, HES induces long-lived functional memory Th2 cells at the site of immunization in the peritoneal cavity. Following a H. polygyrus challenge infection, HES-immunized mice display MHC-II-dependent antigen-specific Th2 cytokine responses in the gut-draining lymph nodes, comparable to those induced by a prior natural infection. Moreover, adoptive transfer of sorted memory CD4⁺ T cells from HES-immunized donors reduces female worm fecundity following a challenge H. polygyrus infection in recipient mice, highlighting a protective role for immunization-induced memory T cells.

Keywords: H. polygyrus; HES; immunization; memory Th2 cells; nematode.