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Measles Virus Infects and Programs MAIT Cells for Apoptosis

Patrick T Rudak1, Tony Yao1, Christopher D Richardson2

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Western University, London, Canada.

The Journal of Infectious Diseases
|July 6, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Measles virus (MeV) infects mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, a type of innate immune cell. This direct infection and subsequent cell death may explain measles-induced susceptibility to other infections.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Virology
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Measles virus (MeV) is known to infect and deplete CD150+ memory T cells, causing immune amnesia.
  • The susceptibility of innate, memory-like T cells to MeV infection remained uncharacterized.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether MeV targets innate, memory-like T cells, specifically mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells and invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells.
  • To determine the susceptibility of MAIT cells to MeV infection and subsequent cell death.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of CD150 expression on human peripheral blood and hepatic MAIT cells and iNKT cells.
  • In vitro exposure of MAIT cells to MeV.
  • Assessment of MAIT cell infection and apoptosis following MeV exposure.

Main Results:

  • MAIT cells and iNKT cells express high levels of CD150, exceeding that of other lymphocyte subsets.
  • MAIT cells are efficiently infected by MeV.
  • MeV infection leads to rapid apoptosis of MAIT cells.

Conclusions:

  • This study reports the direct infection of MAIT cells by MeV, a novel finding.
  • The elimination of MAIT cells by MeV may contribute to measles-associated immunosuppression.
  • MAIT cell depletion could increase vulnerability to secondary, unrelated infections.
Keywords:
iNKT cellsCD150MAIT cellsapoptosiscell deathimmune amnesiaimmunosuppressionmeaslessecondary infectionsvaccination

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