Human in vitro-induced IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells exert pro-inflammatory effects on synovial fibroblasts

IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells, termed Tc17 cells, have been identified at sites of inflammation in several immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. However, the biological function of human IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells is not well characterized, likely due in part to the relative scarcity of these cells. Here, we expanded IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells from healthy donor PBMC or bulk CD8+ T-cell populations using an in vitro polarization protocol. We show that T-cell activation in the presence of IL-1β and IL-23 significantly increased the frequencies of IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells, which was not further enhanced by IL-6, IL-2, or anti-IFNγ mAb addition. In vitro-generated IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells displayed a distinct type-17 profile compared with IL-17A- CD8+ T-cells, as defined by transcriptional signature (IL17A, IL17F, RORC, RORA, MAF, IL23R, CCR6), high surface expression of CCR6 and CD161, and polyfunctional production of IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-22, IFNγ, TNFα, and GM-CSF. A significant proportion of in vitro-induced IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells expressed TCRVα7.2 and bound MR1 tetramers indicative of MAIT cells, indicating that our protocol expanded both conventional and unconventional IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells. Using an IL-17A secretion assay, we sorted the in vitro-generated IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells for functional analysis. Both conventional and unconventional IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells were able to induce pro-inflammatory IL-6 and IL-8 production by synovial fibroblasts from patients with psoriatic arthritis, which was reduced upon addition of anti-TNFα and anti-IL-17A neutralizing antibodies. Collectively, these data demonstrate that human in vitro-generated IL-17A+ CD8+ T-cells are biologically functional and that their pro-inflammatory function can be targeted, at least in vitro, using existing immunotherapy.