Rapamycin-Induced Autophagy Generates Anti-Apoptotic Th1/Tc1 Cells That Mediate Increased Xenogeneic Gvhd.

Abstract 2456

Poster Board II-433

Murine T cells exposed to rapamycin maintain flexibility towards Th1/Tc1 differentiation; the degree to which rapamycin might inhibit human Th1/Tc1 differentiation has not been fully evaluated. In the presence of rapamycin, T cell co-stimulation and polarization with IL-12 or IFN-α permitted human CD4+ and CD8+ T cell differentiation towards a Th1/Tc1 phenotype: by intracellular flow, median percentage expression of Foxp3, IFN-γ, and T-bet was 4%, 20%, and 72%, respectively. Phospho-flow cytometry revealed that such Th1/Tc1 cells expressed activated STAT1 and STAT4 in spite of mTOR blockade; STAT activation was abrogated by PI3 kinase inhibition. Rapamycin-resistant human Th1/Tc1 cells (Th1/Tc1.R cells): (1) had increased expression of the autophagy-related gene LC3BII by gene array and protein analysis; (2) preferentially expressed anti-apoptotic bcl-2 family members (reduced Bax, Bak; increased phospho-Bad); (3) maintained mitochondrial membrane potentials; and (4) had reduced apoptosis relative to control Th1/Tc1 cells not generated in rapamycin (p=0.04). The anti-apoptotic phenotype of Th1/Tc1.R cells was abrogated by co-incubation with the autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyl adenine. The in vivo effect of the Th1/Tc1.R cells was evaluated using two xenogeneic GVHD (x-GVHD) models. First, in an LPS-induced x-GVHD model, Th1/Tc1.R cells resulted in lethality in 75% recipients; soluble TNF-α receptor therapy with etanercept reduced the frequency of lethality to 15%. Second, using a non-LPS natural history model of x-GVHD, recipients of Th1/Tc1.R cells (relative to recipients of control Th1/Tc1 cells) had increased human T cell engraftment (day 30 post-BMT, p=0.001), increased human T cell cytokine levels, increased human T cell expression of the cytotoxic degranulation molecule CD107 (p=0.05), and increased human T cell infiltration of skin, gut, and liver. In this model, lethality due to x-GVHD was also increased in Th1/Tc1.R cell recipients (lethality increased from 20% to 70%, p=0.04). We conclude that rapamycin therefore does not impair human T cell capacity for type I differentiation. Rather, by promoting autophagy rapamycin permits stable expression of T-bet and generates an anti-apoptotic Th1/Tc1 effector phenotype, thereby yielding increased x-GVHD.